OVERCOME-BE  NOT  OVERCOME! 


FROM    THE    LIBRARY    OF 

GUSTAV     KRAEMER 


Library  of  the  Theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON         •       NEW  JERSEY 


Presented  by 

Dr.  Earl  A.  Pope 
Manson  Professor  of  Bible 

Lafayette  College 
The  Earl  A.  Pope  Collection 


o      ° 


Official  Report 


Fifteenth  International 


Christian  Endeavor  Convention, 


Central  Hall,  Tent  Williston,  Tent  Washington,  Tent  Endeavor, 
AND  the  Churches, 


WASHINGTON,  D.C,  JULY  8-1^,  1896. 


Copyrighted,  1896,  by  U.  S.  C. 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETO 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINA 


PUBLISHING  DEPARTMENT, 

UNITED  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR, 

646  Washington  St.,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 

1896. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention 

OF  THE 

YOUNG   PEOPLE'S  SOCIETIES 

OF 

CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR. 


Washington,  D.  C,  July  8-13,  1896. 


PRAISE    God   for   the    great    Washington 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention  ! 
It  was  decidedly  the  best  of  all  our  fifteen 


The  following  pages  present  a  picture  of 
its  scenes  and  an  account  of  its  events.  Let 
us  first  take  a  review  of  its  prominent  charac- 
teristics. 

Foremost  —  as  was  hoped  would  be  the 
case  — is  its  spirituality.  "Not  by  might, 
nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the 
Lord,"  was  appropriately  the  "committee  of 
'96's"  motto.  An  unusual  number  of  emi- 
nent evangelists  gave  earnest  service  through- 
out the  Convention,  —  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chap- 
man, D.D.,  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills,  Mr.  C.  N. 
Hunt,  Rev.  H.  M.  Wharton,  D.D.,  Rev.  Ford 
C.  Ottman,  Rev.  F.  M.  Lamb,  Commander 
Booth-Tucker,  Mr.  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Rev.  Ralph 
Gillam,  and  others.  Boisterousness  and  friv- 
olity were  conspicuously  absent.  Over  all 
the  meetings  brooded  the  earnest  devotion 
and  prayerful  consecration  that  are  more  and 
more  largely  characteristic  of  Christian 
Endeavor.       Not    a    few   conversions    were 

made   in  some  of  these  meetings.     Thousands  were  quickened  to  a 

higher  spiritual  life. 

Though  held  in  a  city  of  unsurpassed  attractiveness  to  the  patriot, 


A_r., 


1^ ' 


^r^Sfe^jjiii^— 


4  Official  Report  of  the 

the  student,  the  lover  of  beauty  in  art  and  nature,  the  Convention  did 
not  suffer  in  attendance  from  sightseeing  ;  but  this  pleasant  occupation 
was  reserved  for  the  spaces  in  the  programme  prepared  for  it.  And 
when  the  delegates  did  set  out  to  see  Washington,  they  saw  it  wisely 
and  well ;  and  to  do  this  is  to  receive  no  slight  education. 

Not  even  the  worst  the  Weather  Bureau  could  do  in  the  way  of  rain 
and  wind  beating  down  Tent  Williston,  and  in  the  way  of  heat, 
served  to  dampen  or  wither  the  quiet  enthusiasm.  Discomforts  were 
routed  with  a  song.     Hindrances  were  overleaped  by  zeal. 

Some  familiar  Convention  features  were  absent,  or  less  marked  than 
usual.  We  seem  to  have  said  farewell  to  the  State  "  yell ;  "  may  it  be 
forever !  While  the  singing  in  the  tents,  and  especially  from  the  glori- 
ous choirs,  was  unsurpassed,  the  singing  on  the  streets  was  slight. 
Washington  was  too  interesting,  and  too  hot.  The  "  buzzer "  was 
almost  never  used  ;  the  speakers  kept  to  time. 

There  were  some  notable  innovations,  which  deserve  to  become  per- 
manent. One  of  these  is  the  holding  of  separate  evangelistic  services 
for  men  only  and  for  women  only.  These  meetings,  at  which  some 
remarkable  addresses  were  made,  produced  a  decided  and  powerful 
effect. 

Then  there  were  the  stereopticon  lectures.  There  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  have  an  eye  convention,  as  well  as  an  ear  convention 
and  a  mouth  convention. 

The  meetings  for  citizens  of  the  Convention  city  were  held  while  the 
Endeavorers  were  attending  their  State  rallies.  It  has  always  seemed 
a  little  selfish,  though  necessary,  to  bar  from  the  sessions  the  people 
who  have  done  so  much  to  make  them  possible. 

There  were  two  magnificent  mass-meetings,  each  devoted  to  a  single 
theme  of  surpassing  and  immediate  interest  to  the  Christian  world, — 
the  session  that  considered  the  Armenians,  and  the  Sabbath  observance 
rally.  Profoundly  pathetic  and  appealing  as  was  the  Armenian  meet- 
ing, and  certain  to  result  in  immense  blessing  to  our  persecuted  Chris- 
tian brothers  and  sisters  across  the  sea,  we  feel  that  the  Sabbath 
observance  rally,  less  dramatic,  less  thronged,  though  finely  attended, 
will  be  productive  of  results  more  far-reaching  and  profound  than  any 
other  session  of  the  entire  Convention. 

The  daily  Bible-studies,  under  a  competent  leader,  were  another  new 
feature,  and  one  whose  success  at  Washington  certainly  calls  for  its 
continuance  in  the  Conventions  to  come.  These  great  gatherings, 
based  as  they  always  have  been  on  God's  word  and  doing  highest 
honor  to  it,  should  give  definite  and  practical  help  and  stimulus  toward 
its  study. 

For  the  first  time,  in  addition  to  the  Junior  rally,  — and  such  a  glori- 
ous Junior  rally  was  never  held,  —  an  entire  morning  was  devoted  to  a 
Junior  workers'  conference.  Undoubtedly,  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
practical  worker,  this  was  among  the  best  sessions  of  the  Convention. 

It  was  a  new  idea  to  hold  denominational  missionary  rallies,  in  addi- 
tion to  those  denominational  rallies  which  have  heretofore  met  with 


Fifteenth  Internatio7ial  Convention.  5 

success.  These  missionary  rallies  were  superb  successes,  and  they, 
too,  will  certainly  receive  an  encore.  And,  by  the  way,  the  Washing- 
ton Convention  marks  a  distinct  advance  step  in  Christian  Endeavor 
progress  in  several  important  denominations,  while  no  loss  of  infiuence 
and  favor  is  to  be  observed  in  any  of  them.  Our  glorious  fellowship 
is  ever  widening  and  deepening. 

The  attendance,  while  stupendous, — over  thirty-one  thousand, — did 
not  reach  the  enormous  enrolment  made  by  last  year's  gathering,  held 
at  Boston.  This  is  easily  accounted  for  by  the  hard  times,  the  fear  of 
Washington  heat,  the  fact  that  a  very  large  number  of  Endeavorers  are 
saving  up  for  San  Francisco,  '97,  the  enormous  number  of  Endeavorers 
that  live  in  and  near  Boston,  and  the  fact  that  last  year's  Convention 
was  held  at  a  point  so  near  Washington.  Probably  for  a  year  we  shall 
be  relieved  of  the  foolish  cry:  "See  how  vast,  unwieldy,  and  unprofit- 
able these  monster  gatherings  are  becoming!  Let  us  split  them  up 
into  sectional  conventions  or  restrict  the  attendance  to  a  limited  num- 
ber." On  the  other  hand,  what  would  have  been  said,  ten  years  ago, 
if  one  had  dared  to  prophesy  that  a  purely  religious  convention  would 
ever  draw  together,  from  great  distances  and  all  States  and  Provinces, 
and  from  foreign  lands,  and  from  all  denominations,  more  than  thirty 
thousand  zealous  young  soldiers  of  the  cross  .'' 

Last  year  were  held  the  great  patriotic  rallies  on  Boston  Common, 
at  Bunker  Hill,  the  Old  South  and  Old  North  Churches,  and  under  the 
Washington  elm.  This  year  the  Capitol  grounds  furnished  an  arena 
for  a  popular  patriotic  demonstration  such  as  the  world  has  never  seen. 
When  before  were  fifty  thousand  people,  mostly  young  men  and  young 
women,  brought  together  at  the  capital  of  a  great  nation,  not  for  a 
political  jollification,  not  to  honor  a  statesman  or  inaugurate  an  admin- 
istration, but  solely  to  emphasize  their  profound  conviction  that  God 
should  rule  in  the  State,  and  that  congresses  and  parliaments  belong  to 
Christ  the  Lord  ?  That  event  will  become  historic,  and  to  become  a 
participant  in  it  was  alone  well  worth  the  journey  to  Washington. 

We  had  in  our  national  capital  a  model  Convention  city.  Its  scores 
of  great  hotels  ;  its  excellent  street  car  service  ;  its  wide  streets,  so 
superb  in  their  smooth  asphalt,  so  stately  with  their  shadowy  elms  ; 
its  spacious  churches  ;  its  hospitable  homes  ;  its  grand  public  edifices, 
museums,  colleges,  galleries,  monuments,  and  statues  ;  its  crowding 
associations  with  all  portions  of  our  splendid  history, —  these  things 
won  all  hearts,  and  thrilled  us  all  with  a  new  pride  in  our  dear  land. 
And  our  brothers  that  own  the  sway  of  England's  noble  queen  could 
enjoy  it  all  as  heartily  as  we. 

We  had  in  the  Committee  of  'g6  a  model  Convention  committee, 
backed  up  by  a  noble  set  of  workers.  Though  coincidence  with  the 
Democratic  national  convention  at  Chicago  prevented  as  wide  pub- 
licity as  would  otherwise  have  been  given  to  the  Convention's  history, 
the  press  was  never  so  well  served  as  by  the  splendid  Convention 
press  committee.  The  reception  of  delegates  and  their  entertainment 
were  cordial  and  in  every  way  admirable.     The  hall  committee's  work 


6  Official  Report  of  the 

was  rendered  exceedingly  difficult  by  the  overthrow  of  Tent  Williston, 
but  was  heroically  performed.  Never  were  the  ushers  better  managed, 
nor  has  this  important  branch  of  Convention  work  ever  been  so  well 
performed.  The  decorations  were  numerous,  and  in  unusually  good 
taste.  The  music,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  Chas.  S.  Clark  and 
those  mighty  men  of  the  baton,  Messrs.  Foster,  Excell,  and  Bilhorn, 
with  the  help  of  the  Hampton  octette,  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Rev.  F.  M. 
Lamb,  the  men's  choir,  and  others,  was  remarkably  fine.  All  the  other 
committees  did  their  work  to  universal  acceptance. 

And  while  the  whole  Christian  Endeavor  world  is  now  speaking  the 
praises  of  Washington  and  the  noble  Committee  of  '96,  not  one  word 
too  much  will  be  uttered,  for  the  city  and  committee  are  worthy  of  all 
honor.  At  this  time,  particularly,  reference  must  be  made  to  that  great 
host  of  workers,  who,  at  immense  sacrifice  of  time,  money,  pleasure, 
convenience,  and  self-interest,  did  such  royal  service  for  the  great 
Convention,  —  the  untitled  and  possibly  unnoticed  lay  members  of  the 
Washington  Christian  Endeavor  Societies.  To  them,  more  than  to 
any  other  human  beings,  belongs  the  credit  for  the  success  of  the 
Convention.  They  were  invaluable.  For  months  they  have  given 
their  lives  to  this  work,  toiling  early  and  late  on  the  various  commit- 
tees. No  political  or  other  secular  gathering  ever  could  receive  such 
service.  How  shall  we  worthily  praise  the  four  thousand  members  of 
the  chorus,  —  their  songs  are  yet  in  our  hearts,  —  the  army  of  recep- 
tion and  entertainment  committee  members,  who  labored  arduously 
day  and  night  for  the  delegates;  the  fine  corps  of  ushers  and  splendid 
press-committee  workers,  whose  service  money  could  not  have  bought; 
the  tireless  messengers,  the  faithful  laborers  at  railway  stations,  church 
and  committee  headquarters,  or  the  other  multitudes  who  did  glorious 
service  in  humble  places  .''  We  can  not  praise  them  rightly  ;  we  can 
but  appreciate  them,  and  say  how  our  hearts  have  been  inspired  and 
encouraged  by  their  Christ-like  example.  They  ask  no  reward ;  yet, 
nevertheless,  high  reward  will  be  theirs  at  the  hands  of  "  the  Father 
who  seeth  in  secret." 

Especial  mention  should  be  made  of  the  remarkable  evenness  of  the 
programme  and  the  high  excellence  of  the  addresses,  though  an 
unusual  number  of  the  best  speakers  may  be  said  to  be  the  discoveries 
of  this  Convention.  From  session  after  session  the  delegates  came, 
declaring  with  fervor,  "  The  grandest  meeting  of  the  Convention  !  " 
"  No,  mine  was  !  "  some  one  from  another  tent  would  cry.  "  No, 
mine  !  "  a  third  would  insist.  And  especially  noticeable,  too,  was  the 
fact  that  nearly  every  speaker  could  be  clearly  heard. 

The  evangelistic  meetings  were  often  pentecostal  in  fervor  and 
power.  In  some  instances  the  delegates,  crowded  out  of  the  missions, 
held  evangelistic  meetings  on  their  own  account.  The  first  meeting  of 
the  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union  was  full  of  high  promise.  It 
will  not  be  long,  certainly,  before  our  International  Convention  is  held 
in  London,  the  metropolis  of  the  world.  The  large  number  of  mission- 
aries and  missionary  secretaries  present  gave  the  Convention  a  distinct 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  7 

uplift.  The  mission  boards  are  utilizing,  as  never  before,  the  immense 
power  of  these  Christian  Endeavor  societies.  Throughout  the  great 
gathering  there  were  countless  evidences  of  the  fact  that  Christian 
Endeavor  is  constantly  growing  in  the  esteem  of  the  evangelical 
denominations.  The  State  rallies  were  far  more  carefully  planned  and 
enthusiastically  carried  out  than  ever  before.  Their  programmes  were 
miniature  conventions.  Never  was  there  so  good  a  representation  of 
State  officers.  The  reception  given  to  them  by  the  United  Society  was 
a  most  delightful  occasion,  and  their  all-day  conference  with  the  trus- 
tees was  one  of  the  most  important  milestones  in  Christian  Endeavor 
history. 


Official  Report  of  the 


THE  OPENING  SESSIONS— WEDNESDAY  EVENING. 


FOR  DEEPER  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

The  heavens  opened.  The  showers  came  down.  The  clouds  poured 
out  their  floods  upon  Washington  throughout  Wednesday.  The  outlook 
for  the  opening  meetings  was  ominous.  Many  shook  their  heads  and 
prophesied  failures,  but  nevertheless  they  went  to  the  churches  them- 
selves. And  so  did  more  than  twenty  thousand  others.  Almost  every 
church  was  filled,  and  some  overflowed.  To  a  man  the  delegations, 
nearly  all  of  which  reached  the  city  before  Wednesday  night,  turned 
out  to  these  opening  meetings. 

Then  came  the  greater  showers.  The  windows  of  heaven  opened. 
There  was  a  glorious  downpour  of  spiritual  refreshment  such  as  has 
never  before  been  seen  at  similar  Convention  meetings.  A  myriad  of 
lives  were  enriched  by  the  deep,  quiet,  and  searching  services  of  these 
opening  sessions.  Assuredly,  the  Convention's  beginning  was  a  fitting 
success. 

"  The  Deepening  of  the  Spiritual  Life  "  was  the  topic  of  twenty  of 
the  meetings.  Men  whom  God  has  honored  gave  his  messages  to  the 
throngs  of  eager  delegates  listening  with  open  hearts.  In  each  meeting 
at  least  two  addresses  were  given  on  the  topic.  To  report  a  tenth  part 
of  these  life-making  speeches  is  beyond  the  scope  of  these  columns. 
The  words  are  written  on  the  hearts  of  multitudes  of  young  people, 
who  will  interpret  them  in  lives  that  acknowledge  the  pre-eminence  of 
spiritual  things. 

The  speakers  were  of  many  denominations  and  from  many  places. 
The  United  Kingdom  sent  these  noble  sons  with  royal  words  :  Rev. 
W.  H.  Towers,  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli,  and  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  all 
of  England  ;  Rev.  W.  D.  Reid,  Rev.  Egerton  R.  Young,  Rev.  W.  F.  Wil- 
son, and  Rt.  Rev.  Maurice  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  of  Canada. 

A  large  number  of  the  addresses  were  by  familiar  and  popular  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  workers,  whose  words  were  of  especial  weight  because  of 
this.  Some  of  these  were  Rev.  J.  T.  McCrory,  D.D.,  Rev.  Smith 
Baker,  D.D.,  Rev.  Kerr  B.  Tupper,  D.D.,  Rev.  J.  E.  Pounds,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Clarence  A.  Barbour,  Rev.  W.  G.  Fennell,  Mr.  Amos  R.  Wells,  Rev. 
William  Rader,  Rev.  J.  Clement  French,  D.D.,  Rev.  Leander  S.  Key- 
ser,  Mr.  W.  H.  Strong,  and  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.D. 

As  is  the  habit  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  pastors  were  given  a  first 
place  at  these  meetings,  and  they  predominated  as  speakers,  as  is 
shown  by  this  list  of  names,  which  itself  tells  eloquently  of  the  power 
of  the  words  spoken  :  Rev.  J.  L.  Withrow,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Rev.  James 
A.  Worden,  D.D.,  Rev.  Louis  A.  Banks,  D.D.,  Rev.  F.  P.  Ramsay, 
Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield,  Rev.  Cortland  Myers,  Rev.  W.  H.  Robinson,  D.D., 
Rev.  J.  L.  Campbell,   D.D.,  Rev.    C.   L.  Work,    D.D.,   Rev.   Rufus  W. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  9 

Hufiford,  D.D.,  Rev.  William  J.  Harsha,  D.D.,  Rev.  C.  S.  Mason, 
Bishop  W.  B.  Derrick,  D.D.,  Rev.  P.  Thomas  Stanford,  D.D.,  Rev. 
J.  W.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  Rev.  L.  R.  Dyott,  Rev.  R.  F.  Coyle,  D.D.,  Rev. 
Franklin  Hamilton,  Rev.  J.  E.  Mason,  Rev.  P.  P.  Watson,  Bishop 
Samuel  Fallows,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Bishop  Alexander  Walters,  D.D.,  and 
Bishop  B.  W.  Arnett,  D.D. 

In  the  Epiphany  Episcopal  Church  the  meeting  was  presided  over  by 
the  pastor.  Rev.  R.  H.  McKim,  D.D.,  and  addressed  by  two  Episcopal 
Christian  Endeavor  workers.  Rev.  Albert  E.  George,  South  Boston,  and 
Rt.  Rev.  Maurice  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  Ont., 
while  a  Massachusetts  Episcopal  Endeavorer,  Rev.  C.  W,  Palmer,  had 
charge  of  the  "quiet  hour." 

And  those  "  quiet  hours  "  !  What  times  of  silent  searching,  heart 
communion,  and  deep  consecration  they  were  !  The  desires  for  com- 
plete personal  holiness,  for  the  full  enthronement  of  Jesus  over  the  life, 
and  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  generated  in  these  precious 
moments,  only  the  all-seeing  Master  himself  can  know.  Evangelists 
Rev.  Ralph  Gillam,  Rev.  Ford  C.  Ottman,  Mr.  C.  N.  Hunt,  and  Rev. 
A.  D.  Thaeler,  Mr.  Charles  B.  Holdrege,  Rev.  W.  F.  McCauley,  Rev. 
A.  F.  McGregor,  Rev.  Charles  Roads,  Rev.  Charles  A.  Oliver,  Mr. 
Arthur  W.  Kelly,  Rev.  T.  G.  Langdale,  Mr.  William  T.  Ellis,  Rev. 
E.  T.  Root,  Rev.  S.  Edward  Young,  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Turner,  and 
Mr.  Harry  A.  Kimports  directed  these  solemn  services.  In  the 
"quiet  hour"  many  delegates  learned  afresh  the  Scripture,  "Be  still, 
and  know  that  I  am  God." 

A  popular  innovation  at  these  opening  Wednesday  evening  services 
was  the  introduction  of  two  stereopticon  missionary  lectures.  Audi- 
ences that  crowded  two  churches  to  their  fullest  limit  greeted  the  lec- 
turers, Rev.  Frank  S.  Dobbins  and  Rev.  George  E.  Lovejoy,  whose 
topics  were,  respectively,  "The  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun"  and  "The 
Crescent  Against  the  Cross." 

In  all  of  these  services,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  the  pastors  of 
the  churches  in  which  the  meetings  assembled  presided,  and  made 
addresses  of  welcome.  At  these  meetings,  too,  the  uniformed  ushers 
did  their  first  regular  Convention  work,  as  did  also  the  chorus.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  they  did  it  well.  The  special  music  in  many  meet- 
ings was  a  helpful  and  delightful  feature.  Each  church  honored  its 
guests  by  appropriate  decorations,  and  these  were  often  elaborate  and 
significant.  Since  most  of  the  churches  were  State  headquarters.  State 
colors  and  welcome  banners  were  frequently  to  be  seen. 

Yes,  Wednesday  night  was  a  night  of  great  meetings,  enriched  by 
showers  of  blessing. 

New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  spacious  auditorium  of  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  was  well  filled,  there  being  few  empty  seats  in  the  main 
body   of  the  church,   and   the  galleries  were  also   occupied.     While 


10  Official  Report  of  the 

the  audience  was  being  seated  a  strong  male  voice  started  a  favorite 
Endeavor  hymn,  which  was  taken  up  by  the  audience  with  well-sus- 
tained power  and  several  verses  were  sung.  The  pastor  of  the  church, 
Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D.  D.,  presided  over  the  meeting.  Prayer  was 
offered  by  Dr.  Radcliffe,  and  then  he  read  a  selection  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, after  which  another  hymn  was  sung,  and  with  a  few  appropriate 
words  Dr.  Radcliffe  introduced  Rev.  Cortland  Myers,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Address  of  Rev.  Cortland  Myers,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

When  they  tell  me  that  in  my  own  city  and  across  the  river  in  New  York 
City  there  are  a  million  people  who  do  not  attend  church  upon  the  Sabbath 
Day,  it  is  an  inspiration  to  come  here  to  the  City  of  Washington,  and  that  in- 
spiration is  significant  at  such  an  hour  as  this,  when  we  are  gathered  here  in 
such  large  numbers  on  such  a  stormy  night,  to  speak  about  and  to  think  about 
this  most  important  subject — The  Deepening  of  the  Spiritual  Life. 

About  a  mile  from  my  own  home  was  an  old  mill.  One  of  the  delights  of 
those  happy  hours  was  a  journey  to  that  mill.  The  anticipation  always  fought 
with  the  reality,  and  the  reality  always  won  the  victory.  And  I  can  now  hear 
the  music  of  those  forces,  the  roar  of  the  old  wheels  and  the  buzz-saw.  I  recall 
that  there  were  certain  hours  in  the  history  of  that  mill  when  it  could  not  run 
at  all.  But  when  the  mountain  stream  was  running  down  the  hillside  and  the 
larger  stream  flowing  unto  the  mill-pond,  the  old  miller  could  raise  the  gates, 
and  the  water  flowed  ;  but  when  those  mountain  streams  were  dry,  there  was 
no  music  and  no  whistle,  and  the  wheels  did  not  turn  and  the  saw  did  not  buzz. 
What  was  the  trouble?  What  was  needed.?  Water  on  the  hillsides;  water 
from  the  mountain  tops.  The  old  mill-pond  was  dependent  upon  that  stream, 
and  the  stream  was  dependent  upon  the  water  from  the  hills,  and  the  water  in 
the  hills  dependent  upon  the  streams  from  the  mountain,  and  the  mountain 
dependent  upon  the  clouds  in  the  upper  world. 

The  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  is  from  above,  and  that  deepening  has  its 
issue  in  power.  We  are  not  to  deepen  the  stream  of  spiritual  life  by  cutting  a 
channel  or  enlarging  the  channel.  That  is  making  merely  a  canal,  and  a  canal 
is  a  poor  sort  of  a  substitute  for  a  stream  by  which  we  are  going  to  run  a  mill, 
by  which  we  are  going  to  receive  the  power.  You  are  not  going  to  deepen  the 
spiritual  world  by  cutting  a  channel.  No.  The  forces  as  they  come  from  the 
upper  world  will  make  their  own  appropriate  and  far  better  channel.  The 
spiritual  life  is  not  deepened  by  any  process  of  the  convent  or  of  living  the  life 
of  a  monk  or  a  nun,  dressed  in  sackcloth  or  living  in  ashes. 

The  Lord  Jesus  left  us  in  this  world,  and  we  are  not  to  be  taken  out  of  it 
until  we  are  to  be  transferred  to  heaven  :  we  are  in  the  world  but  not  of  it.  If 
you  are  to  be  just  exactly  what  your  heavenly  Father  wants  you  to  be,  your 
spiritual  life  is  not  to  be  deepened  by  any  external  process,  not  by  any  method 
or  formula  ;  you  can  pass  through  all  sorts  of  ceremony,  and  not  have  one 
single  atom  added  to  your  spiritual  life.  Why,  I  remember  recently  of  stand- 
ing in  the  congregation  of  a  church  where  the  formal  worship  of  God  was  going 
on,  and  of  noticing  a  young  woman  who,  when  prayers  were  offered,  went 
through  her  prayers  as  perfectly  as  they  were  ever  uttered  by  any  one  in  the 
whole  world  ;  yet  I  noticed  at  the  same  time  that  she  was  taking  in  every  one 
in  the  whole  congregation,  and  I  wondered  if  there  were  any  additions  being 
made  to  her  spiritual  life  in  that  hour  of  worship.  I  presume  she  thought 
there  were. 

I  do  not  believe  it  is  within  human  power  to  produce  faith  in  the  human 
heart.  I  believe  though  it  is  within  human  power  to  crowd  out  the  bad  by  the 
presence  of  the  good.  If  you  have  a  glass  full  of  water,  why,  you  are  not  going 
to  put  any  beer  into  it !  Now,  there  is  something  of  the  same  principle  that 
must  come  into  your  own  attitude  towards  this  subject  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing to-night.    Your  spiritual  life  is  to  be  deepened  by  the  crowding-out  process. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  11 

That  is  God's  process.     That  which  is  untrue  is  best  taken  care  of  by  crowding 
in  all  that  which  is  true. 

Now,  it  is  a  beautiful  thing  to  see  a  true  Christian  character,  but  I  declare  to 
God  that  the  most  beautiful  thing  to  be  seen  in  the  Christian  life  is  the  issue 
of  this  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  into  power,  not  to  get  out  of  the  world, 
but  to  move  th'e  world,  and  to  move  it  for  God.  We  are  to  be  men  and  women, 
filled  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  move  the  world  on  up  towards  God 
until  at  last  it  is  bound  with  golden  chains  fast  to  his  feet.  What  did  they 
wait  in  the  old  city  of  Jerusalem  for  ?  Will  you  tell  me.'*  What  did  Peter  wait 
for,  and  James  and  Thomas,  and  the  rest  of  them  wait  for  in  the  old  City? 
Peter  waited  until  that  quick  and  hasty  temper  of  his  had  been  dispelled  by 
the  grace  of  the  Spirit.  We  need  to-day,  more  than  we  need  anything  else  in 
this  wide  world,  a  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life,  which  is  the  divine  energy 
moving  through  man.  The  weakest  thing  on  earth  is  the  man  or  woman  who 
says  he  is  Christian  and  is  not  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  mightiest  force 
on  earth  is  the  weakest  man  or  woman  who  says  "  I  am  Christian,  and  I  am 
moved  by  the  divine  energy,  which  is  the  Holy  Spirit  himself."  That  is  the 
way  this  world  is  to  be  brought  to  the  feet  of  our  Master,  and  that  is  the 
process  which  God  has  marked  out  for  you,  to  do  your  work  in  your  Endeavor 
Societies. 

The  next  speaker  was  one  of  the  Presbyterian  pastors  of  Chicago, 
and  was  heartily  received. 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Robinson,  D.D.,  of  Englewood,  Ml. 

I  speak  this  evening  to  those  who  have  pondered  the  oracles  of  God,  and 
who  have  worked  in  God's  garden  weeding  and  planting ;  not  to  babes  in  Christ, 
but  to  those  hungry  to  be  fed  with  meat.  You  are  here  because  you  feel  a 
pressure  toward  loftier  aspiration  and  discontented  with  common  measures  of 
spiritual  life.  You  are  asking  for  some  diviner  terms  than  the  flat  earth  usually 
affords  by  which  to  mount  to  eternal  life. 

The  spiritual  life  should  rule  the  bodily.  Man's  living  body  is  tenanted  by  a 
living  spirit.  He  has  a  life  within  a  life.  There  are  those  who  are  bursting 
with  animal  life  at  every  pore,  while  their  spiritual  life  makes  no  sign.  They 
have  wound  such  thick  veils  of  flesh  around  the  spirit  that  its  light  never  shines 
through.  The  body,  even,  seems  in  some  to  have  absorbed  the  shrunken  spirit 
as  the  worm  draws  in  the  withered  leaf  and  makes  it  earth. 

On  the  other  hand  the  inner  life  sometimes  flames  through  the  outer  and 
transfigures  it.  Through  the  unconscious  skin  of  Moses'  face  his  secret  Sinai 
fellowship  with  God  forced  rays  of  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land.  The 
faces  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  its  false  witnesses,  opaque  with  passion  and  heavy 
with  lies,  fronted  in  Stephen  the  incipient  transfiguration  of  a  face  that  seemed 
another  morn  risen  on  mid-noon  —  perfectly  angelic. 

Put  a  light  inside  a  marble  vase  and  the  stone  grows  beautifully  translucent. 
The  spirit  of  man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord  and  should  shine  through  the  tex- 
ture of  the  countenance.  Leddon,  in  his  "  Elements  of  Religion,"  a  book  worth 
reading,  says  of  John  Keble,  author  of  "  The  Christian  Year,"  that,  "  his  face 
was  like  an  illuminated  clock."  Through  the  time  and  tear-stained  dial  and 
across  the  weather-worn  hands  shone  the  light  of  a  great  peace  within.  Such 
men  you  call  spiritually  minded,  they  have  a  profound  and  powerful  spiritual 
life.  You  want  to  be  like  them.  You  want  to  deepen  your  spiritual  life.  But 
men  are  full  of  vagaries,  false  ecstasies,  and  strange  contradictions.  "  Blank 
does  make  a  beautiful  prayer,  but  he  will  lie,"  said  a  man  to  me.  I  fear  it  was 
true.  Such  a  man  seems  to  be  religious.  He  seems  to  have  spiritual  life.  His 
nature  is  like  the  tree  of  the  tropics.  The  tenderest  bird  notes  are  heard  in  the 
foliage.  Has  not  the  spirit  then  alighted  like  a  heavenly  dove,  and  made  its 
nest  and  rest  ?  The  leaves  are  stirred  with  rustling  music.  Does  not  the  spirit, 
like  some  heavenly  wind,  breathe  across  these  branches?  Blossoms  exhale 
their  fragrance  like  swinging  censers.  What  but  the  very  breath  divine  can 
disengage  such  gusts  of  perfume  ?     Is  not  this  spirituality?     But  down  below  is 


12  Official  Report  of  the 

the  oozy  ground  where  the  cobra  flashes  his  fangs  and  the  centipede  mixes  his 
poison.  The  contact  with  the  skies  is  good,  but  alas  for  the  contact  with  the 
common  earth  of  daily  life  !  It  is  Balaam  incarnate  again.  The  language  of 
tlie  Mount  is  beautiful,  but  the  life  on  the  meadow  is  evil  and  teaches  Israel 
to  sin. 

When,  then,  we  seek  to  deepen  our  spiritual  life,  our  very  first  anxiety  must 
be  to  know  what  spiritual  life  is  in  its  true  essence.  The  thing  to  deepen  is 
what  1  Thank  God,  the  answer  is  clear.  Ideal  spiritual  life  is  the  life  effected 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  has  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  his  Son  into  men's  hearts, 
and  the  spiritual  life  effected  thereby  in  the  inmost  soul  and  its  fruit  in  the  out- 
ward life  are  clearly  and  definitely  described. 

When  the  spirit  of  God  comes  into  our  souls  he  produces  certain  thoughts 
and  emotions.  These  are  very  definite.  One  of  them  is  that  we  feel  that  God 
is  our  Father.  God  hath  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  his  Son  into  our  hearts,  whereby 
we  cry  "Abba!"  that  is,  "Father."  Jesus'  especial  revelation  was  of  God  as  a 
father,  and  the  spirit  sent  by  Jesus  fills  the  soul  with  the  cry  which  appropriates 
that  truth. 

Another  effect  of  the  spirit  in  the  soul  is  to  fill  it  with  intense  prayer,  such 
profound  desire  for  God  and  holiness  and  salvation  from  sin  as  can  not  be 
expressed  in  words.  All  deep  emotions  defy  language.  It  is  with  feelings  as 
with  waters.     The  shallows  murmur  but  the  deep  are  dumb. 

But  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  spiritual  life  in  the  soul  which  does  not  mani- 
fest itself  in  the  outward  life.  And  there  is  no  mistaking  the  manifestation. 
The  fruits  of  the  spirit  are  manifest,  and  are  these:  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  meekness,  patience. 

And  the  connection  between  these  two,  the  inner  and  the  outer,  is  clear.  He 
who  feels  that  God  is  his  loving  father  overflows  upon  men  as  from  an  inner 
fountain  of  love  and  joy  and  peace.  The  strength  and  joy  of  his  inner  life 
project  themselves  forth  upon  others  in  long-suffering,  gentleness,  meekness, 
patience.  There  is  a  beautiful  correspondence  between  a  tree  and  its  roots.  If 
the  ground  beneath  a  maple  or  elm  could  be  made  transparent,  or  if  the  X-ray 
could  photograph  the  unseen  roots  as  well  as  the  seen  tree,  there  would  be  two 
trees  in  sight — a  tree  of  roots  below  and  a  tree  of  branches  above,  and  the  two 
wonderfully  corresponding  to  each  other  down  to  finest  filaments.  If  you  find 
yourself  gifted  in  prayer,  and  cross  to  your  brother,  or  successful  on  the  lookout 
committee  and  unhelpful  in  the  home,  set  yourself  to  remembering  that  the 
spiritual  life  is  symmetrical.  If  the  tree  of  branches  does  not  equal  the  tree  of 
roots  then  some  worm  of  death  or  some  leak  from  an  unsuspected  gas-pipe  is 
slaying  the  secret  vitality.  Learn  to  distinguish  between  the  accompaniment 
of  spiritual  life,  and  spiritual  life  itself,  yea,  even  between  the  accompaniments 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  that  Spirit  itself. 

Dost  thou  then  really  desire  a  deeper  spiritual  life?  Enter  into  thy  closet 
and  pray  to  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret.  That  Father  is  more  willing  to 
give  thee  the  Holy  Spirit  than  earthly  parents  are  to  give  good  gifts  to  their 
asking  offspring.  And  co-operate  with  the  spirit  by  your  own  effort.  Say  low 
to  your  own  soul,  "  O  my  soul,  thou  art  ensphered  by  the  earthly  and  perishing. 
But  thou  thyself  art  the  child  of  God."  This  sonship  is  begotten  in  thee  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Even  now  thou  art  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thou 
wouldst  not  scratch  the  polish  on  a  church  pew  or  pulpit  or  cut  the  cushions — 
mar  not  in  any  wise  that  physical  structure  which  is  the  temple  of  the  living 
God.  Thou  art  living  in  the  spirit.  Walk  in  the  spirit  more  and  more. 
Deepen  thine  own  spiritual  life  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  the  spirit  is  deepen- 
ing that  life  within  thee.  Use  both  prayer  and  care,  grace  and  grit,  tenacity 
and  trust. 

Is  this  then  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  ?  I  think  it  is  not.  Is  there 
any  simpler  and  more  living  unity  which  fires  and  fuses  all  the  details  of  the 
spiritual  life,  integrating  them  into  its  living  self?  1  think  there  is.  When  we 
give  thoughts  and  meetings  and  prayer  to  "deepening  the  spiritual  life''  we 
have  some  ideal  more  or  less  dim  or  clear  before  us.  What  is  it?  This  is  it. 
There  can  be  no  question  what  it  should  be.     There  was  One  whose  spiritual 


FiftceiitJi  International  Convoition.  13 

life  needed  no  deepening.  It  was  already  as  deep  as  God.  He  was  conceived 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  was  an  Holy  thing  from  his  birth.  At  his  baptism  the 
Holy  Spirit  came  upon  him  not  in  the  tongue  form  of  a  divided  flame,  but  in 
the  dove  form  of  organic  completeness.  He  was  led  into  the  wilderness  by  the 
good  spirit  to  be  tempted  by  the  bad.  He  returned  in  the  power  of  the  spirit 
into  Galilee.  Through  that  eternal  spirit  he  offered  himself  to  God.  His 
spiritual  life  needed  no  change  in  any  dimension.  The  depth  and  breadth  and 
length  of  it  were  equal.  Its  size  and  symmetry  were  perfect.  His  spiritual 
mindedness  was  absolute.  Here  is  the  touchstone,  a  corrective  and  short 
method  for  the  whole  legion  of  false  notions  of  spirituality  and  spiritual  life. 
Chemical  analysis  is  the  long  method  for  telling  what  is  healthy  in  atmosphere 
or  food.  The  short  method  is  by  the  senses  of  smell  or  taste.  The  long  method 
for  right  and  wrong  is  casuistry  and  systems  of  rectitude.  The  short  method 
is  conscience.  So,  books  on  holy  living  and  holy  dying,  or  on  the  Imitation  of 
Christ,  or  even  a  wide  and  scattering  study  of  the  Bible,  are  the  long  methods 
toward  the  spiritual  life.  The  short  method  is  the  living  Christ  within  the  soul 
to  whom  we  calmly  turn  and  say,  "  Did  you  do  it.  Lord  Jesus?"  "  Would  you  do 
it  if  you  were  I .?" 

With  this  living  Christ  in  the  soul  we  see  that  spiritual  life  is  not  in  the 
thinness  of  ascetic  fastings.  It  is  not  in  a  diet  of  locusts  with  side  dishes  of 
unfarmed  honey,  for  the  Son  of  Man  came  eating  and  drinking.  It  is  not  in 
covenants  or  exclusive  withdrawal  into  the  wilderness  of  a  "retreat."  For 
Jesus  was  the  companion  of  publicans  and  sinners.  It  is  not  in  the  prolonged 
eloquence  of  Isaiah's  prophecies,  for  Jesus  uttered  none  such.  It  is  not  in 
the  despairing  rush  of  Elijah  into  the  wilderness  and  the  morbid  despondency 
that  says,  "  I  am  not  fit  to  live."  For  these  things  are  not  in  the  four  biogra- 
phies of  Jesus.  Oh  !  I  would  save  all  endeavoring  souls,  if  I  might,  from 
egotistic  strainings  after  the  ethereal  and  hallowed  Christs  of  poetic  portrait 
painters,  by  creating  within  you  the  ever-shifting  yet  ever-constant  image  of 
Jesus  Christ,  perpetually  changing  in  expression  and  attitude,  so  as  to  furnish 
the  right  ideal  for  each  shifting  hour.  There  are  lovers  here  who  need  not  even 
snatch  a  secret  glance  at  the  beloved  picture  to  recall  the  face.  They  see  it 
everywhere  by  day  in  its  likeness  or  contrast  to  other  faces.  It  is  the  back- 
ground for  other  faces  or  is  superimposed  upon  them.  It  lives  before  them  in 
the  night-time,  dark,  splendid,  speaking  in  the  silence,  and  holds  them  from 
their  sleep.  And  there  are  friends,  there  are  husbands  and  wives  who  have 
so  loved  and  studied  each  other  that  in  any  newly  rising  set  of  circumstances 
each  knows  with  instinctive  and  infallible  certainty  how  the  other  would  feel 
or  act.  And  when  death  has  separated  one  from  the  other  the  sainted  form  is 
present  and  sways  the  other's  life  from  hour  to  hour.  Sometimes  the  dear  face 
appears  with  the  warm  curves  of  youth,  and  again  with  the  lines  that  acid  care 
has  chiseled  through  the  years.  Sometimes  the  form  is  robed  in  the  heavy 
clothes  of  toil,  sometimes  in  the  glory  of  anniversary  apparel.  Sometimes 
its  unheard  voice  is  sweet  as  first  love,  and  again  clarion  like  a  soldier's  horn. 
But  it  is  ever  the  same  face  and  form  and  voice.  From  a  rejected  huge  block 
of  marble,  Angelo  so  carved  David  with  his  sling  in  hand  that,  from  one  view- 
point of  the  Florence  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  he  appears  the  youthful  boy  he 
was;  from  another,  his  face  seems  changed  to  the  almost  mature  determination 
of  the  antagonist  of  Goliath.  Yet  it  is  the  same  statue.  So  I  would  have  you 
familiar  with  the  composite  Christ.  I  would  have  you  see  him  amid  all  sce- 
neries, whether  upon  the  gray  mountain  top  of  prayer,  beside  the  rushing  river 
of  John's  baptism,  on  the  pebbly  shore  of  Galilee,  or  within  the  brightness  of 
Hermon's  cloud. 

I  would  have  you  see  him  and  all  human  surroundings,  whether  compassed 
about  by  the  raving  mob  of  Nazareth,  or  entrancing  the  crowd  curved  close  to 
the  circling  waves  of  Gennesaret's  bay  ;  whether  answering  the  sharp  questions 
of  temple  priests,  or  using  gracious  words  to  synagogue  students  ;  alone  with 
the  Sychar  woman  at  noon  and  with  Nicodemus  at  night,  or  in  the  centre  of 
palm  branches  that  quavered  in  the  breath  of  royal  hosannas  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  same  voices  rested  enough  to  cry,  "  Crucify  ?  crucify !  " 


14  Official  Report  of  the 

1  would  have  you  see  him  in  all  ages  of  his  life,  whether  the  grotto  babe  of 
Bethlehem,  the  high-hearted  boy  of  twelve  in  his  father's  sacred  house,  the 
muscular  young  workman  in  the  Nazareth  shop,  the  embrowned  and  travel- 
stained  man,  the  expiring  sufferer  of  the  last  hours,  or  the  ageless  conqueror  of 
the  sealed  and  guarded  tomb.  I  would  have  you  see  him  in  all  bodily  condi- 
tions,—  held  helpless  at  Mary's  breast,  or  smiting  soldiers  with  a  look  ;  weary  at 
the  well  or  walking  on  the  waves  ;  asleep  on  the  pillow  at  the  stern  of  the  ship 
while  others  waked,  or  awake  in  the  garden  while  the  three  others  were  asleep; 
striding  tensely  forward  to  the  cross  when  his  hour  was  come,  or  exhausted  upon 
that  cross  where,  from  each  spiked  hand,  blood-drop  after  blood-drop  fell  to 
join  its  fellow  in  the  little  pool  that  was  making  itself  upon  the  ground,  and 
pale  and  cold  at  last  when  death  and  silence,  too,  enamored  of  his  voice,  locked 
its  mute  music  in  their  rugged  cell  till  in  the  triumph  of  eternal  youth  he  broke 
the  lock,  and  the  mute  music  of  "  Mary  !  "  sounded  in  a  woman's  ears. 

All  hail,  then,  to  you  who  have  decided  to  become  disciples  of  the  inner  and 
spiritual  life  of  Christ.  You  must  set  your  spiritual  nature  to  rule  your  bodily. 
Appetites  and  passions  must  be  subjected  to  the  soul's  welfare  and  used  in  the 
service  of  the  soul.  Then  this  general  spiritual  mind  must  make  its  condition 
most  definite  by  seeking,  praying  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  cultivating  the  sense 
of  God's  fatherhood  and  a  better  and  purer  bodily  condition,  culminating  in  a 
resurrection  body  like  Christ's.  And  the  spiritual  life  will  become  so  intense  as 
to  be  unspeakable  in  contents.  Even  also  test  your  spiritual  life  by  its  fruits  in 
a  temper  that  is  long-suffering,  gentle,  and  patient.  And  that  you  may  not  be 
lost  in  maze  and  labyrinth  of  searching,  consider  and  behold  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  spiritual  life  was  perfect.  Have  the  vision  of  him,  and  have  him  within 
your  soul  more  and  more.  Go  away  from  this  Convention  with  this  one  great 
secret  resolve  in  your  very  soul:  I  will  have  the  complete  Christ  within  my 
soul,  that  I  may  completely  incarnate  him  in  my  life.  To  carry  out  this  resolve 
you  will  need  to  take  some  such  pledge  as  this,  and  keep  it  ever  before  your 
soul  eye:  — 

O  Christ,  trusting  in  thy  Holy  Spirit  to  help  my  memory,  reason,  and  imagi- 
nation, study  thy  life  in  all  its  connections,  I  promise  not  to  study  one  of  the 
four  gospels  more  than  the  others.  I  promise  not  to  study  thy  life  of  commun- 
ion with  God  and  thy  prayers  more  than  thy  outward  conduct  among  thy  fel- 
low men.  I  also  promise  never  to  study  a  feature  or  detail  of  thy  life  without 
trying  vividly  to  see  them  in  the  very  act.  And  I  also  promise  never  to  leave 
my  studying  without  the  definite  prayer,  "O  Lord,  put  this  under  me."  And, 
finally,  I  promise  to  struggle  to  reproduce  each  feature  of  thy  life  in  my  own. 

At  the  close  of  the  two  addresses  a  most  impressive  '*  quiet  hour"  was 
conducted  by  Mr.  Charles  B.  Holdrege,  of  Chicago,  111. 

Mount  Vernon  Place  M.  E.  South  Church. 

The  meeting  was  largely  attended  by  visiting  delegates  from  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  with  a  goodly  sprinkling  of 
Washingtonians,  who  thus  had  their  first  glimpse  of  the  sessions  of  a 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention.  The  Mt.  Vernon  Church  choir  of  the 
Convention  chorus  had  a  chance  to  show  what  it  could  do  in  the  musi- 
cal line,  and  under  the  very  efficient  leadership  of  Mr.  Page  L.  Zim- 
merman. 

The  pastor,  Rev.  Isaac  W.  Canter,  D.D.,  was  the  presiding  officer, 
and  Miss  Florence  Ball,  also  of  Mt.  Vernon,  played  the  big  organ. 

There  was  a  preliminary  song  service,  and  then  Dr.  Canter  called 
upon  Rev.  Rumsey  Smithson,  D.D.,  presiding  elder  of  the  Washington 
Methodist  Church,  South,  to  offer  the  opening  prayer. 


FiftccntJi  International  Co7ivention.  15 

The  103d  Psalm  was  read  responsively,  and  then  Dr.  Canter  for- 
mally, but  none  the  less  beautifully,  welcomed  the  Southern  Endeavor- 
ers  to  the  church  and  the  city. 

Another  Gospel  hymn  was  sung,  and  then  the  first  speaker,  Rev. 
W.  D.  Reid,  of  Montreal,  Canada,  President  of  the  Quebec  Provincial 
Union  of  Christian  Endeavor,  was  introduced. 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  D.  Reid,  Montreal,  P.  Q. 

The  subject  of  which  I  have  been  asked  to  speak  is  an  exceedingly  solemn 
one  ;  it  reaches  down  and  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  awful  issues  of  eternal 
life  or  eternal  death.  In  considering  what  is  meant  by  spirituality,  we  must 
beware  of  the  fatal  error  of  mistaking  for  spirituality  loyalty  to  religious  insti- 
tutions or  organizations.  Many  are  exceedingly  loyal  to  some  particular  insti- 
tution, and  they  imagine  that  because  of  this  they  are  deeply  spiritual.  This  is 
strikingly  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the  Jews.  What  loyalty  they  exhibited 
toward  their  temple,  their  Sabbath,  their  ordinances !  When  the  Romans, 
under  Vespasian,  invaded  Judea,  the  Jews  would  die,  and  often  did,  by  the 
score,  rather  than  desecrate  the  Sabbath  in  self-defence.  Yet  they  were  the 
men  whom  Christ  denounced  as  hypocrites,  devoid  of  spiritual  life.  It  shows 
me  that  it  is  possible  to  have  wonderful  loyalty  and  love  for  our  institutions  and 
yet  have  no  spiritual  life.  The  devil  often  deceives  men  by  causing  them  to 
believe  that  loyalty  to  institutions  means  religion.  Again,  spirituality  must  not 
be  considered  as  synonymous  with  enthusiasm,  with  Christian  activity.  You 
have  read  of  the  young  man  in  the  Bible  called  Jehu.  He  showed  unparalleled 
zeal  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  slaughtered  the  priests  of  Baal  without  mercy. 
Yea !  he  almost  vanquished  the  outward  form  of  idolatry,  but,  alas !  in  after 
days  he  proved  that  with  all  his  zeal  no  spiritual  life  had  been  there.  Let  every 
Endeavorer  make  no  mistake  here,  and  see  that  he  is  not  mistaking  Christian 
activity  for  spirituality.  Spirituality  should  not  be  mistaken  for  morality,  which 
may  be  defined  as  that  rule  of  conduct  regulating  man's  duty  to  himself  and  his 
fellow  beings.  Loyalty  to  religious  institutions,  zeal  in  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  morality,  as  a  general  rule  are  the  results  of  spiritual  life  ;  but  do  not  mistake 
them  for  the  genuine  article.  Spirituality  depends  entirely  upon  the  relation- 
ship existing  between  the  individual  soul  and  its  God.  Deepening  of  the  spir- 
itual life  depends  upon  several  laws ;  the  dwelling  in  your  hearts  of  a  hunger- 
ing and  thirsting  for  righteousness  and  the  desire  to  become  more  like  God. 
You  must  also  believe  that  a  deeper  life  is  possible  for  you.  In  the  accom- 
plishment of  any  object  it  is  a  great  stimulus  for  one  to  have  confidence  in  his 
ability  to  reach  the  point  aimed  at.  Another  principle  is,  be  sure  that  you  have 
been  born  again.  Remember  that  before  any  spirituality  can  be  developed  in 
you  there  must  be  a  new  spiritual  birth.  Just  as  well  attempt  to  grow  a  field  of 
grain  where  no  seed  has  been  sown  as  to  imagine  that  you  can  develop  spirit- 
uality when  your  heart  has  never  been  renewed  by  the  grace  of  God.  You  must 
become  a  Christian  if  you  wish  to  experience  a  deeper  life.  You  cannot  afford 
to  tamper  with  conscience.  You  dare  not  question  the  dictates  of  God's  spirit  in 
even  the  smallest  matters.  Wherever  the  finger  of  conscience  points  you  mustbe 
ready  to  go.  You  must  listen  for  the  faintest  whisper  and  obey.  Another 
principle  is  a  recognition  of  the  great  truth  that  you  are  not  your  own ;  that  you 
belong,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Among  the  evidences 
of  the  deeper  life  are  purification  of  character,  stability  to  character,  an  intense 
earnestness  to  character,  and  stimulus  to  activity.  It  will  show  itself  on  a 
death-bed.  I  have  stood  by  the  death-bed  of  the  infidel,  who  passed  into  the 
unseen  world  in  black  despair.  I  have  watched  the  death-struggle  of  the 
agnostic  as  he  passed  through  the  vale  with  a  faltering  "  don't  know  "  upon  his 
lips.  I  have  talked  to  the  nominal  Christian  while  the  grim  monster  tightened 
his  grip  upon  the  vitals,  and  with  awestruck  whisper  and  blanched  face  he  said 
he  hoped  that  all  would  be  well.  I  have  listened  to  the  clear,  urging  note  of 
triumph  of  a  Paul,  who  shouted  in  victory  as  he  passed  through  the  dark  waters, 


16  Official  Report  of  the 

"  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed."     Death  has  lost  its  sting  and  the  grave  its 
victory. 

After  singing  "  Christ  and  the  Church,"  Dr.  Canter  introduced  Rev. 
L.  A.  Banks,  D.D.,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  pastor  of  the  Hanson  Place 
M.  E.  Church. 

Address  of  Rev.  Louis  Albert  Banks,  D.D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Under  the  old  dispensation  it  was  expressly  stated  that  "a  dwarf"  should 
not  be  permitted  to  "  come  nigh  to  offer  the  bread  of  his  God."  This  had 
special  reference  to  the  priests  who  were  allowed  to  eat  bread,  but  were  limited 
in  their  privileges  because  of  their  blemish.  Under  the  Gospel  we  are  all  priests 
unto  God ;  and  we  are  constantly  having  illustrated  before  us  the  fulfillment  of 
that  old  requirement,  for  not  a  day  passes  but  we  see  Christian  priests  shut  out 
from  the  joy  and  honor  of  "  offering  the  bread  of  their  God,"  because  they  are 
spiritually  dwarfed. 

It  is  impossible  that  one  should  be  dwarfed  in  any  way  and  not  suffer  for  it. 
One  of  the  penalties  of  ignorance,  for  instance,  is  that  the  unlearned  man  must 
forego  the  keen  delight  of  imparting  knowledge.  The  heaviest  penalty  of  pov- 
erty is  that  one  so  situated  may  not  experience  that  highest  type  of  joy  which 
comes  from  relieving  distress  ;  so  the  saddest  penalty  of  a  dwarfed  nature  is 
that  it  is  shut  out  from  the  noble  joy  which  enlarged  and  affluent  souls  share  in 
bestowing  the  bread  of  life  upon  the  hungry. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  discovery  which  Mr.  Stanley  made  in  "  Darkest 
Africa"  was  the  race  of  small  dwarfs  which  he  found  there.  No  wonder  the 
daring  explorer  grows  eloquent  and  romantic  as  he  meditates  upon  their  history, 
for  he  declares  that  for  more  than  three  thousand  years  this  little  race  of  pyg- 
mies have  lived  there  under  the  shadow  of  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon.  He 
thinks  them  to  be  the  oldest  types  of  primeval  man,  and  believes  they  are 
descended  from  the  outcasts  of  the  earliest  ages,  the  Ishmaels  of  the  primitive 
race,  forever  shunning  the  haunts  of  the  workers,  deprived  of  the  joy  and  delight 
of  the  home-earth,  eternally  exiled  by  their  vice,  to  live  the  life  of  human  beasts 
in  morass,  and  fen,  and  jungle  wild.  These  little  people  are  the  most  ancient 
race  who  still  possess  the  dwelling-places  of  their  ancestors.  Herodotus,  the 
father  of  history,  tells  about  them.  But  old  as  they  are,  they  have  made  no 
progress  in  physical  development,  intellectual  culture,  or  moral  refinement. 
Their  bodies  are  only  from  two  to  four  feet  high,  and  they  live  in  little  round 
brush  huts,  that  look  like  a  village  of  children's  playhouses.  But  little  as  their 
bodies  are,  their  souls  seem  smaller  still.  They  have  been  so  shut  away 
from  the  sunshine,  in  the  dark  forest,  that  their  bodies  have  not  only  been 
dwarfed,  but  their  minds  and  souls  have  grovelled  in  the  dirt. 

But,  alas !  one  does  not  need  to  go  to  Darkest  Africa  to  find  intellectual  and 
moral  pygmies.  The  dwarfs  are  all  about  us.  They  exist  in  the  very  midst  of 
our  brightest  modern  civilization.  There  are  multitudes  of  people  who  are  well 
developed  and  well  fed,  physically  and  intellectually,  and  whom  men,  looking 
on,  suppose  to  be  towering  giants,  who  are  in  heart  and  soul  the  most  insignifi- 
cant dwarfs. 

There  are  many  things  that  may  dwarf  a  soul,  but  perhaps  the  most  common 
and  potent  cause  of  all  is  the  living  in  a  close  material  atmosphere.  If  you 
would  know  the  glad  exultation  of  a  pure  atmosphere  and  a  wide  horizon,  you 
must  pay  the  price  of  a  climb  to  the  mountain  top ;  so  souls  only  grow  large  as 
they  come  into  fellowship  with  loftv  spiritual  natures.  Education,  books,  pic- 
tures, music,  travel,  enlarge  men;  but  the  great  enlargement  must  come  from 
the  consciousness  of  God  in  the  world.  All  narrow  walls  are  broken  down  in  his 
presence.  If  we  look  back  over  the  history  of  the  world,  we  will  find  that  the 
men  and  women  who  have  been  the  spiritual  athletes  and  giants  in  their  time 
have  been  those  who  lived  in  a  horizon  that  was  broadened  and  enlarged  by 
their  faith  in  God.  The  consciousness  of  God  is  the  most  potent  power  known 
to  humanity  in  deepening  the  spiritual  life  and  in  enlarging  the  spiritual  nature. 


FiftcentJi  hitcrnational  Convention.  17 

How  clearly  this  is  illustrated  in  the  history  of  Moses  !  Many  other  shepherds 
there  were,  doubtless,  who  followed  their  flocks  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Horeb, 
but  Moses  only  found  Jehovah  there.  This  consciousness  of  God  made  it  pos- 
sible for  him  to  live  in  an  atmosphere  strong  enough  where  he  was  able  to  make 
that  sublime  choice  and  refuse  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  hav- 
ing respect  unto  "  the  recompense  of  the  reward." 

It  was  this  same  atmosphere,  luminous  with  the  presence  of  God,  which 
Daniel  and  the  three  Hebrew  worthies  breathed,  and  on  which  they  grew  to  be 
giants,  so  that  a  young  captive  from  Jerusalem  became  a  far  larger  and  more 
important  character  than  the  king  in  Babylon. 

It  was  the  same  consciousness  of  the  ever-present  God,  that  made  Joseph,  in 
his  dungeon,  a  grander  personage  than  Pharaoh  on  the  throne  in  Egypt  ;  and 
which  finally  made  the  dungeon  too  small  to  hold  him,  and  made  him  a  ruler 
among  the  people  who  had  held  him  in  bondage. 

You  see  the  same  truth  illustrated  in  the  story  of  Nehemiah.  A  helpless, 
weeping  servant  he  seems  at  first,  in  the  Persian  palace  ;  but  as  time  goes  on, 
and  his  prayers  to  the  God  of  his  fathers  are  answered,  and  he  comes  under 
divine  direction  into  a  place  of  responsibility  and  power,  he  grows  into  a 
strong,  self-reliant,  daring  man;  and  when  they  undertake  to  scare  him 
away  from  his  work  by  the  threat  of  the  assault  of  Sanballat,  we  are  not 
astonished  to  hear  his  brave  words:  "Should  such  a  man  as  I  flee.''"  And 
if  we  turn  to  that  sublime  life  of  Jesus  Christ  which  must  ever  be  our  final 
appeal  in  spiritual  things,  we  shall  certainly  see  that  its  supreme  characteristic 
is  the  consciousness  of  God  which  pervades  it.  Whether  he  was  alone  on  the 
mountain  at  night  in  prayer,  preaching  to  the  multitude,  or  pursuing  his  min- 
istry going  about  doing  good,  working  miracles  of  healing,  or  stilling  the  tem- 
pest at  the  terror-stricken  cry  of  his  affrighted  disciples,  the  presence  of  God 
was  like  an  atmosphere  in  which  Jesus  lived  and  wrought. 

The  same  great  spiritual  forces  are  working  in  the  world  to-day.  It  is  just  as 
true  now  as  ever,  that  the  men  who  live  in  a  close  material  atmosphere,  and 
give  themselves  up  to  eating  and  drinking,  become  spiritual  dwarfs ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  just  as  true  as  it  ever  was,  that  the  man  who  lives  in  commun- 
ion with  God,  living  in  glad  consciousness  of  God's  presence  and  leadership,  is 
enlarged  in  spiritual  stature,  and  becomes  affluent  with  the  bread  of  heaven  to 
bestow  on  all  who  need. 

Such  a  soul  becomes  rich  in  spiritual  resources.  The  desire  to  be  rich,  to 
have  an  abundance,  to  have  more  than  we  need  for  immediate  requirements, 
seems  to  be  in  all  healthy  natures.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  mainsprings  of  human 
action.  While  it  is  true'  that  some  of  the  early  Pilgrims  came  to  this  country 
seeking  freedom,  and  ever  and  anon  since,  there  have  been  those  from  different 
lands  who  have  sought  here  an  asylum  from  tyranny  and  oppression,  yet  it  can 
not  be  disputed  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people  who  have  crossed 
the  ocean  and  spread  abroad  until  they  have  covered  the  continent,  felling  the 
forests,  bridging  the  rivers,  irrigating  the  desert,  until  the  whole  land  blossoms 
with  fertility,  have  come  from  a  desire  to  get  rich  or  at  least  to  obtain  a  more 
abundant  life.  Men  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  desiring  to  obtain  wealth.  That 
desire  is  inherent  in  human  nature.  But  many  are  to  be  blamed  in  that  they 
choose  the  very  poorest  quality  of  riches.  It  may  be  a  good  thing  to  be_  rich  in 
lands,  and  steamships,  and  stocks,  and  securities,  and  gold  ;  but  it  is  an  infinite- 
ly better  thing  to  be  rich  in  love,  and  hope,  and  faith,  and  noble  character.  A 
recent  writer  illustrates  the  superiority  of  spiritual  wealth  to  that  of  material 
riches,  which  the  world  seeks  and  appreciates,  by  calling  attention  to  the 
Hebrews  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  marvelous  wealth  which  they  had  in  the 
promise  of  God  to  give  each  one  of  them  an  omer  of  manna  every  day.  This 
daily  portion  of  manna  was  worth  at  least  twenty-five  cents  an  omer.  The 
supply  lasted  for  forty  years,  and  the  aggregate  value  of  it  was  not  less  than 
four  thousand  dollars,  for  each  of  the  three  million  of  the  wanderers,  or  twelve 
billion  dollars  in  all.  And  this  writer  points  out  that  if  the  Hebrews  had  been 
able  to  take  with  them  out  of  Egypt  twelve  billion  dollars  in  gold,  they  would 
not  have  been  as  rich  as  that  simple  promise  of  God  made  them.     They  had  no 


18  Official  Report  of  the 

trouble  in  hunting  for  food,  or  in  transporting  it,  or  in  storing  it.  God  sent  a 
full  supply  fresh  every  morning  and  they  had  only  to  go  out  and  gather  it.  God 
is  as  good  to  us  as  he  was  to  them.  Hrs  promises  are  just  as  valuable  novi^  as 
when  he  led  Moses  and  his  followers  through  the  Red  Sea,  sweetened  the 
waters  of  Marah,  and  gave  them  manna  in  the  desert. 

Mere  earthly  wealth  oftentimes  walls  in  the  soul  and  narrows  its  horizon,  and 
causes  it  to  be  beggared  in  its  instincts  in  the  midst  of  abundance.  It  is  related 
of  one  of  the  wealthiest  of  New  Yorkers  in  modern  times,  a  man  whose  millions 
were  multiplied  many  times  over,  that  he  was  very  miserable  during  the  last 
years  of  his  life  because  he  was  haunted  with  the  fear  that  he  would  die  in  the 
poor-house.  Poor  man  !  though  he  was  rich  in  outward  show,  he  had  a  dwarfed 
soul,  and  in  his  real  self  he  was  a  pauper.  He  could  not  have  felt  this  way 
about  it  if  he  had  recognized  that  God  had  given  him  his  abundance  ;  but  feel- 
ing that  he  had  gathered  it  himself,  it  was  very  natural  that  he  should  fear  he 
might  lose  it  again.  Many  a  man  in  narrow  quarters,  with  sublime  faith  and 
confidence  in  God,  is  richer  and  larger  than  the  prince  in  his  palace. 

The  soul  that  lives  only  for  this  world,  and  through  the  senses,  can  not  help 
being  narrowed  and  embittered  by  the  disappointments  and  hurts  of  life  which 
ought  to  sweeten  and  enlarge  the  nature.  A  friend  brought  me  from  "  The  Bad 
Lands,"  in  North  Dakota,  a  very  interesting  cane  cut  from  a  Diamond  Willow 
tree.  This  is  a  very  interesting  willow  that  does  not  seem  to  grow  anywhere 
else  except  in  that  strange  region.  The  Diamond  Willow,  when  it  first  begins 
to  grow,  sends  up  a  very  thrifty,  promising  shoot,  and  gives  many  early  tokens 
of  development  into  a  large  and  sightly  tree;  but,  like  many  men  and  women, 
it  does  not  live  up  to  its  promises.  For  as  soon  as  the  little  twigs  and  branches 
begin  to  die  down,  it  seems  to  set  all  the  sap  and  life  of  the  tree  to  work,  build- 
ing little  diamond-shaped  tombs  about  the  spot  where  each  branch  died,  and  it 
so  devotes  itself  to  this  work  that  it  is  a  very  scrubby  little  dwarfed  tree  at  best. 

A  great  many  men  and  women  are  like  my  Diamond  Willow  cane.  They 
have  hved  in  such  a  narrow  spirit,  and  have  so  turned  their  thoughts  in  upon 
themselves,  that  they  are  only  stunted  wooden  calendars  of  the  different  epochs 
in  their  lives,  where  enthusiasm  or  ambition  died  out,  and  the  dates  where  they 
ceased  growing.  Disappointments  and  sorrows  and  griefs,  that  would  have  en- 
larged and  enriched  their  natures  if  they  had  lived  in  a  freer  and  nobler  atmos- 
phere, have  only  served  to  stunt  them  and  keep  them  little.  How  different  is 
the  story  of  the  great  pine-tree,  or  the  fragrant  balsam  fir  which  only  grow  the 
higher  because  some  of  their  lower  branches  are  broken.  It  is  only  by  catching 
the  inspiration  of  the  upper  air,  as  does  the  pine,  that  the  misfortunes  of  life 
shall  enlarge  instead  of  dwarfing  us.  If  we  are  conscious  that  we  are  "the  sons 
of  the  Most  High,"  we  shall  be  able  to  get  strength  out  of  weakness  and  trial, 
as  did  Paul,  and  Christ.  But  the  soul  that  only  lives  for  the  world  and  the 
senses  can  not  help  but  be  narrowed  and  embittered  by  the  disappointments  and 
defeats  of  life,  which  ought  to  sweeten  and  enlarge  the  character.  The  lofty- 
souled  pine,  and  not  the  stunted  Diamond  Willow,  is  the  true  type  of  a  noble 
life.     How  sweetly  Ada  Bowles  sings  our  message  !  — 

"World-worn  and  sad  I  one  day  stood 
Within  the  shadow  of  a  wood, 
Whose  lacing;  limbs,  entangled,  spread 
Their  netted  curtains  o'er  my  head. 
I  sighed  :  '  O  balmy,  breathing  pines, 
Must  you,  too,  feel  the  vexing  lines 
That  limit  growth,  that  strangle  life, 
And  make  of  effort  endless  strife? 
Your  branches  die,  all  brown  and  bare 
With  battling  for  the  upper  air. 
Those  broken  boughs  so  closely  prest 
Your  hard  imprisonment  attest.' 

"  Then  fell  the  answer  sweet  and  low : 
*  We  grow  as  love  would  have  us  grow; 

Our  neaven-aspiring  height  attain 

By  crowded  ranks  and  wrestling  strain, 

The  lower  life  but  gives  its  grace 

To  find  a  higher,  freer  place. 


Fifteenth  Iiitcnuxtioiial  Convcntioji.  19 

The  hinder'd  sap  must  yet  leturn. 
Must  still  witii  liie  s  riroug  purpose  burn, 
To  neai  of  broken  bouylis  tlie  imait, 
'1  o  Send  \\.~,  lUt^  till  ougn  me  iieait, 
Enlargiiijf  gii  tli.  extcudiiit;  rout. 
And  breathing  tio.u  eacii  lender  shoot, 
Till,  ill  ciose  it-iluusiup  \\e  n.  e 
To  ujeet  t.ie  biue  ot  u^naing  skies. 
And  tiuis.  throuijli  luini-tries  ol  gi.od, 
Is  ^lo.vn  tile  inoiurcli  of  tlie  wood.' 
Sing  on,  O  pines,  your  song  of  peace, 
Sing  on  till  every  doubt  shall  cease. 
That  1  may  trust  the  perfect  plan 
That  works  by  love  in  tree  and  man." 

The  earnestness  that  gradually  grew  over  the  congregation  while 
Rev.  Mr.  Reid  and  Dr.  Banks  were  speaking  continued  into  the  "quiet 
hour,"  which  was  conducted  by  Rev.  A.  D.  Thaeler,  of  Winston,  N.  C. 

At  the  Eastern  Church. 

The  large  auditorium  was  crowded  with  Endeavorers  and  their 
friends.  The  delegation  of  Mississippi  and  delegates  from  Oklahoma 
quartered  at  the  church  were  present. 

The  meeting  opened  with  the  anthem,  "Wake  the  Song  of  Jubilee," 
by  the  choir.  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Easton,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Eastern 
Church,  offered  the  opening  prayer.  A  psalm  was  read,  and  •'  Scatter 
Sunshine  "  was  sung  by  choir  and  audience.  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell,  of 
Pennsylvania,  offered  prayer,  asking  for  the  unity  of  the  church  and 
that  great  blessings  should  flow  from  the  present  Convention.  After 
the  song,  "Sweet  Peace,"  Dr.  Easton  welcomed  the  delegates  in  the 
name  of  the  Eastern  Church,  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  in  the  name  of  Christ,  expressing  the  wish  that  a  mighty 
wave  of  salvation  from  this  Convention  might  sweep  over  the  country. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Worden,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  the  first  speaker  of 
the  evening,  was  introduced.  He  spoke  of  the  unity  of  thought,  aim, 
and  effort  of  the  denominations  and  cited  the  Apostles'  Creed  as  an 
evidence  of  the  unity.  He  asked  the  audience  to  recite  the  creed  in 
concert,  and  then  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  belief  expressed 
in  the  creed  was  a  bond  which  in  reality  made  all  one.  He  wished  it 
were  possible  that  each  denomination  would  come  to  the  rescue  of  the 
ones  which  were  hard  pressed,  and  then  the  church  of  God  would  be 
rightly  bound  together  and  would  successfully  press  forward. 

The  audience  sang  "Loyal  Soldiers,"  and  "Sunshine  in  My  Soul." 

The  Rev.  H.  M.  Wharton,  D.D.,  was  detained  by  sickness,  and  in 
his  stead  Rev.  James  Campbell,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  introduced.  The 
likeness  of  married  couples  as  age  increases  was  used  to  illustrate  the 
necessity  of  our  growing  to  be  like  Christ.  There  are  depths  in 
Christ's  life  which  we  have  never  fathomed.  To  understand  the  Christ 
life  we  must  be  guided  by  certain  laws  and  regulations.  The  speaker 
stated  how  deeply  his  mother's  teaching  impressed  upon  his  mind  the 
necessity  of  going  to  the  old  Book  when  in  trouble.  You  can  not  live 
without  prayer  any  more  than  a  bird  without  wings.  Faith  also  must 
be  present  and  strengthened  by  communion  with  God  and  by  study  of 
his  Word. 


20  Official  Report  of  the 

Rev.  T.  A.  Wigginton,  President  of  Mississippi  Christian  Endeavor 
Union,  led  in  prayer. 

The  "  quiet  hour  "  was  conducted  by  Rev.  S.  Edward  Young,  pastor 
of  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

Memorial  Lutheran  Church. 

The  prettily  decorated  church  was  well  filled,  and  the  badges  of 
many  cities  and  States  were  noticeable.  The  meeting  was  presided 
over  by  Rev.  J.  G.  Butler,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  church,  who  opened  the 
exercises  with  a  feeling  address  and  a  powerful  prayer  in  behalf  of  the 
increase  of  spiritual  fervor  in  all  hearts.  At  its  conclusion,  he 
announced  the  invocation  hymn  as  being  particularly  appropriate  for 
rendition  at  such  an  initial  meeting,  and,  led  by  the  choir,  the  entire 
assemblage  sung  the  meaning  stanzas  with  expression  that  showed  how 
earnestly  their  hearts  prompted  their  lips. 

After  the  reading  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  chapters  of  John  by 
Dr.  Butler,  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Stahl,  of  Philadelphia,  in 
which  he  pleaded  that  the  Holy  Ghost  might  ever  dwell  in  all  their 
hearts. 

Dr.  Butler  then  introduced  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Hufford,  D.D.,  of  Read- 
ing, Pa.,  as  the  first  speaker. 

Address  of  Rev.  R.  W.  Hufford,  D.D.,  Reading,  Pa. 

I  want  to  say  in  the  first  place  that  whatever  subjects  may  come  before  us 
during  this  Convention  there  will  not  be  any  other  of  more  importance  than  this, 
and  in  my  judgment  there  will  not  be  any  other  of  more  importance  come  before 
us  at  any  time  anywhere  than  this  subject  of  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life. 
I  would  like  to  emphasize  this  thought,  so  that  whatever  else  you  may  hear  you 
may  call  up  this  subject  and  think  about  it.  If  you  do  not  hear  anything  else 
here  to-night,  remember  the  subject.  We  are  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  just 
this  thing.  There  is  so  much  work  that  presses  upon  our  hands,  there  are  so 
many  things  that  demand  our  attention,  that  we  are  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of 
the  very  thing  that  needs  to  be  done  for  us  and  in  us.  I  trust  that  we  shall 
receive  such  an  inspiration  that  all  the  services,  all  the  singing,  all  the  praying 
we  shall  hear  and  into  which  we  shall  enter,  may  be  the  means  of  deepening 
our  spiritual  life.  It  would  accomplish  very  great  good  if  it  would  do  that  and 
nothing  more.  It  would  be  worth  while  simply  to  have  our  spiritual  life  deep- 
ened, and  to  accomplish  that  we  have  come  together  here  to-night. 

It  would  not  be  a  bad  year's  work  in  our  churches  if  we  should  not  take  in  a 
new  member  at  all  but  deepen  the  spiritual  life  of  all  the  members  of  our 
churches.  It  would  be  a  great  year's  work.  It  would  not  be  a  year  thrown 
away. 

What  do  we  mean  by  that  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  ?  To  deepen  the 
spiritual  life  is  to  make  the  individual  more  a  Christian  ;  it  is  to  make  him  love 
spiritual  things  more  and  worldly  things  less;  to  make  him  value  his  Bible 
more,  and  to  use  it  more  and  understand  it  better  ;  to  make  him  feel  his  relation 
to  God  as  his  Father,  and  talking  with  him  to  realize  the  fact  that  he  is  guiding 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  this  is  a  very  important  work.  We  need  our  spiritual 
life  deepened  for  the  sake  of  our  Christian  comfort  and  satisfaction,  for  our 
enjoyment  and  the  happiness  of  our  souls.  But  the  man  who  is  always  talking 
about  being  happy,  who  is  yearning  for  happiness,  and  wants  to  bend  every- 
thing to  the  seeking  of  happiness,  who  will  tell  you  everthing  about  his  miser- 
ies, and  magnifies  them  in  his  talk,  is  not  the  idea  of  a  Christian  at  all.     It  is 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  21 

not  so  selfish  as  that.  It  is  right  for  us  to  think  the  Christian  should  receive  a 
great  deal  of  comfort.  There  are  far  too  many  who  lack  this  happiness  and 
comfort  because  they  lack  the  depth  of  spirit  to  make  it  possible.  They  are 
trying  to  fill  the  aching  void  in  a  way  in  which  it  can  never  be  filled.  They  are 
trying  to  find  in  worldly  ambition  that  satisfaction  of  the  soul  which  they  can 
never  get  in  any  other  way  than  by  communion  with  God.  trusting  him  and 
obeying  him.  It  is  a  very  sad  thing  to  see  how  many  persons  who  profess  to 
be  followers  of  Christ,  are  trying  to  find  happiness  in  some  other  way  than  the 
right  way.  There  is  no  sadder  thing  than  to  see  people  here  and  there,  all  over 
the  world,  trying  this  thing  and  that  thing,  to  satisfy  the  soul.  It  is  as  bad  as 
the  prodigal  son  trying  to  satisfy  himself  with  the  husks  which  the  swine  ate. 
The  soul  may  forget  its  duties  for  a  little  time,  and  may  forget  God,  and  what 
it  owes  to  God  ;  it  may  forget  Christ  the  Saviour  and  what  he  has  done  for  it. 
But  it  sees  this  is  not  happiness.  The  reaction  comes  and  instead  of  happiness 
there  is  a  great  deal  more  unhappiness  than  there  was  before. 

I  would  say  further  that  one  needs  this  deepening  of  the  religious  life  for 
the  credit  of  the  church  to  which  he  belongs.  Some  of  these  things  I  have 
briefly  referred  to  are  not  to  the  credit  of  the  church.  The  reputation  of  the 
church  depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  lives  of  those  who  belong  to  it.  The 
Christian  is  the  world's  Bible.  The  world  may  not  read  the  Bible  that  lies  here 
oefore  us.  It  may  hear  little  about  it.  It  may  know  little  about  it.  But  the 
world  reads  the  Christian's  life  and  the  world  notices  what  he  is.  "  Ye  are  our 
epistles  written  in  our  hearts,  known  and  read  of  all  men."  Wherever  there 
are  Christian  people  to-night  and  wherever  they  may  be  any  day,  they  will  be 
read  by  the  world.  The  lives  they  live  will  be  scrutinized  carefully.  The 
church  will  stand.  It  will  have  a  reputation  enviable  or  unenviable.  Therefore, 
it  is  necessary  for  the  credit  of  the  church  and  its  power  in  the  community  that 
its  spiritual  life  should  be  deepened. 

I  remember  hearing  a  man  who  now  occupies  a  very  useful  position  in  the 
city  of  New  York  say  that  he  himself  had  been  guilty  of  forgery  and  of  theft.  He 
was  a  skilful  forger  and  had  forged  a  considerable  amount  of  paper  at  the  very 
time  he  came  under  the  influence  of  God's  spirit,  and  when  he  knelt  down  to 
pray  he  was  met  with  just  this  question,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  .''  How  about 
this  forged  paper  that  is  already  out  in  the  community  "i  If  you  profess  to  be  a 
Christian,  you  must  tell  the  truth  now,  and  that  means  that  you  must  give  your- 
self up."  The  temptation  to  give  up  and  go  back  to  his  old  life  came  to  him. 
But  now  it  meant  to  him  arrest  and  imprisonment  for  years.  But  God  gave 
him  strength  to  resist  and  he  persisted  in  praying,  and  he  declared  then  and 
there  that  he  had  found  the  way  of  life.  He  determined  to  submit  his  soul  to 
the  spirit  of  God,  and  then  and  there  he  made  a  complete  surrender  of  his 
spirit  to  the  control  of  the  Almighty.  But  the  next  day  he  went  to  see  one  of 
those  men  whose  name  he  had  forged,  and  told  him  the  whole  story  ;  what  he 
had  done  before  and  what  he  was  trying  to  do  now.  That  man  said,  "  You 
need  have  no  fear  from  me.  I  wish,  oh.  I  wish  I  had  what  you  say  you  have 
now  !  "  The  business  man  was  a  professed  Christian  talking  to  a  veritable  thief 
and  gambler  and  was  ready  to  say,  "  I  vvould  be  willing  to  give  much  for  what 
you  have  now."  There  is  a  great  need  of  that  in  the  churches  to-day.  They 
are  in  a  condition  in  which  its  members  are  not  really  ready  to  say  they  are 
Christians.  They  have  no  real  knowledge  of  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins;  so 
little  knowledge  in  fact  that  they  hesitate  to  say  they  are  Christians.  We  ought 
to  be  ready  and  willing  to  give  an  answer  clear  and  distinct,  and  the  only  way 
to  do  that  is  to  deepen  the  spiritual  life;  and  until  we  can  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  God's  word,  until  what  we  profess  has  become  a  reality,  we  can  never 
do  this.  It  is  to  the  discredit  of  the  church  when  the  professed  followers  of 
Christ  lack  this  spiritual  experience,  this  knowledge  of  the  service  of  the  Master, 
the  reading  of  his  Bible.  The  Christian  should  have  some  of  the  experience  of 
the  Psalmist. — "Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet,  and  a  light  unto  my  path." 
It  would  make  the  church  mean  a  great  deal  more.  It  would  help  draw  the  line 
between  the  world  and  the  church,  and  would  show  that  the  church  is  under 
the  control  of  the  living  God. 


22  Official  Report  of  the 

Dr.  Butler  said,  in  introducing  the  next  speaker,  "  This  blessed 
Christian  Endeavor  work  not  only  emphasizes  denominational  loyalty, 
and  cultivates  international  friendship,  but  it  reaches  around  the  world. 
We  shall  now  hear  an  address  by  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli,  of  Manchester, 
England." 

Address  of  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli,  Manchester,  England. 

My  dear  friends, — I  can  not  express  the  pleasure  it  gives  me  to  speak  at  this 
Convention,  as  the  first  public  act  that  I  am  permitted  to  perform  on  my  visit 
to  the  United  States.  I  have  seen  many  things  that  have  made  me  wonder  at  and 
admire  your  great  country,  but  I  must  say  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  wonder 
that  I  felt  when  I  looked  upon  your  great  buildings  in  New  York,  the  beautiful 
streets  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  magnificent  architecture  of  your  own  great 
city,  amongst  all  these  things  there  is  nothing  that  inspires  me  as  this  wonderful 
Convention. 

The  genius  of  Christianity  is  to  work  from  centre  to  circumference.  We 
stand  here  to-night  to  declare  that  we  seek  not  a  mere  superficial  religion,  but 
one  which  reaches  deep  down  to  the  secrets  of  the  heart.  Perhaps  there  never 
was  a  day  when  Christianity  was  so  popular  as  now  ;  but  its  popularity  may  be 
its  peril.  In  these  days  men  too  often  mistake  the  demands  which  Christ 
makes  upon  the  human  heart,  and  therefore  I  rejoice  with  you  and  with  all  the 
Christian  Endeavorers  who  meet  here  in  this  city  to-night  that  we  open  our 
Convention  with  this  particular  topic. 

God  never  saves  men  in  crowds.  It  is  we  who  are  to  talk  to  the  masses. 
God  never  speaks  to  save  the  masses.  Christ  did  not  die  so  much  for  the 
world  as  for  every  individual  man  in  the  world.  He  loved  man  and  he  gave 
■himself  for  man.  You  are  to  God  what  no  other  person  can  be.  There  are  no 
^wo  of  us  whose  circumstances,  whose  dispositions  are  the  same.  In  God's 
»ight  we  are  especially  definite,  separated  one  from  the  other.  God  knows  us 
^ach  from  the  other  and  seeks  us  out  in  the  great  company  of  our  fellow  human 
beings,  and  for  that  very  reason,  because  our  circumstances  are  so  different, 
our  dispositions  so  different.  Every  one  of  us  can  feel  that  in  a  very  special 
sense  we  needed  Christ  to  die  for  us  individually ;  and  therefore  we  need  to 
Consecrate  ourselves  to  him  individually. 

Again,  each  one  of  us  has  a  work  to  do  for  God  which  no  other  person  can 
do.  There  is  a  part  in  this  mighty  work  for  every  individual  amongst  us.  Each 
life  is  commissioned  by  God  to  fulfil  a  particular  purpose  and  therefore  Chris- 
tian consecration  must  be  individual.  You  remember  in  that  wonderful  book, 
when  we  have  a  glimpse  of  the  days  that  are  to  come,  that  the  reward  of  the 
righteous  is  described  under  the  form  of  a  white  stone  and  on  the  stone  is  a 
name  which  no  man  can  read  save  him  who  receives  it ;  so  that  we  learn  that 
our  reward  from  God  will  one  day  be  this  —  that  we  have  learned  the  secret  of 
our  lives  with  him.  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him,  and 
our  reward  will  be  in  that  day  to  receive  a  name  from  him  which  no  other  shall 
know,  the  meaning  of  which  no  other  shall  understand  but  God  and  ourselves. 
Is  there  a  sweeter,  more  encouraging,  more  inspiring  thought  than  this,  our 
individual  relationship  with  Jesus  Christ? 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  know  a  great  man.  One  of  the  greatest  privileges  of  the 
Christian  is  to  know  such  a  man  as  the  apostle  Paul  or  Saint  John.  And  many 
will  almost  immediately  recognize  these  men  by  some  expression.  Something 
or  other  will  tell  us  that  these  are  the  men  we  have  read  about  during  our  pil- 
grimage here  below.  I  may  know  Martin  Luther,  I  may  know  John  Wesley, 
but  I  know  Christ,  and  more  than  that  I  know  he  knows  me.  "  I  know  my 
sheep  and  am  known  of  mine." 

It  is  this  individual  relationship  with  Jesus  Christ  which  makes  a  life  a 
heaven  below.  There  is  something  of  the  spirit  of  homesickness  which  we 
Chiistians  need  realize  when  we  come  into  close  touch  with  Jesus  Christ.  "  As 
the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God." 


Fifteenth  hiternational  Cojivention.  23 

Heart  longing  for  heart,  and  as  I  long  for  God  so  God  longs  for  me.  For  the 
Father  himself  loved  us,  and  therefore  we  must  say  with  Augustine,  "  O  God, 
thou  art  our  home,  and  we  can  never  rest  until  we  rest  with  tliee."  Christ 
claims  you.  He  longs  for  you  individually.  See  how  often  Christ  sought  to 
impress  this  upon  men  when  he  was  here;  how  he  spoke  to  Nicodemus,  the 
woman  at  the  well,  the  poor  woman  who  suffered  from  the  issue  of  blood  and 
tried  to  come  into  the  crowd  yet  had  to  be  singled  out  and  saved  individually. 
There  may  be  things  in  me  which  separate  me  from  others,  but  Christ  loves 
those  characteristics  if  consecrated  to  him.  Jesus  loved  Martha  and  Mary 
and  Lazarus.     He  loves  variety  in  character. 

There  is  a  saying  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  used  to  trouble  me  for 
many  years  :  "  If  any  man  come  to  me  and  hate  not  his  father  and  mother,  and 
wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  can 
not  be  my  disciple."  "  Whosoever  he  be  of  you  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he 
hath,  he  can  not  be  my  disciple."  Do  we  not  despise  the  man  who  loves  wife 
and  children  more  than  duty.?  Do  we  not  honor  the  man  who  will  do  his  duty 
at  any  cost?  We  come  to  the  unlike  feature  of  Christianity  instead  of  the  cruel 
code  of  moral  duties  which  other  religions  present.  To  us  is  given  not  the  tab- 
lets of  stone,  but  the  warm  heart  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  Christ  is  duty  personified ; 
and  as  we  follow  him  we  follow  duty,  and  being  true  to  Christ  we  dare  not  allow 
anything,  either  love  of  wife  or  children,  brother  or  sister,  or  our  own  lives,  to 
come  before  our  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ. 

I  remember  a  remarkable  picture  which  some  of  you  may  have  seen.  In  the 
foreground  you  see  a  young  girl  who  is  brought  before  the  Roman  judge  on 
account  of  her  loyalty  to  the  Saviour.  All  around  her  are  friends  who  are 
pleading  with  her  to  forsake  Christ  and  cleave  to  her  lover.  The  lover  himself 
is  bending  over  her  and  pleading  with  her  for  his  sake  to  give  up  her  love  for 
Christ.  For  once  the  hard  features  of  the  judge  seem  to  relax.  In  the  back- 
ground you  can  see  the  lions  raging,  preparing  to  receive  her  body;  for  if  she 
loves  Christ  the  more,  she  is  to  be  thrown  to  them.  "  If  any  man  love  father 
or  mother  more  than  me  he  is  not  worthy  of  me,  he  can  not  be  my  disciple." 
She  dare  not,  she  dare  not  yield,  and  she  is  thrown  to  the  waiting  lions.  But, 
borne  down  upon  the  breeze,  we  almost  catch  an  echo  of  the  song  that  swells 
around  the  great  white  throne.  "  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great 
tribulation  and  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb."  Do  you  say  she  loved  her  dear  ones  less  because  she  loved  Christ  ? 
She  loved  more,  though  she  must  despise  them  on  account  of  her  devotion  to 
Christ. 

We  can  understand  one  another  in  the  difficulties  we  sometimes  experience 
as  to  this  Christian  consecration,  namely,  this  whole-hearted  surrender,  to  give 
up  ambitions,  to  surrender  aspirations  of  worldly  success,  to  give  up  loves  that 
come  between  us  and  Jesus  Christ.  How  can  we  do  it.?  We  can  do  it.  "I 
can  do  all  things  through  Christ,  which  strengtheneth  me."  Christ  first,  Christ 
last,  Christ  all  in  all.  Jesus  said,  "  If  a  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross  daily  and  follow  me."  If  you  love  the  world  as 
much  as  you  ever  did  there  is  no  cross  in  your  religion.  Be  sure  of  that ;  you 
are  not  his  disciple.  You  can  not  be.  But  is  this  hardship  to  make  us  afraid? 
God  forbid !  There  is  heroism  left  in  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans  still, 
amongst  those  who  know  they  have  the  blood  of  martyrs.  There  is  still  that 
fire  of  the  spirit  which  shall  consume  every  barrier,  which  shall  make  the  way 
of  every  Christian  soldier  plain.  Come  what  may,  rather  let  the  difficulties  fan 
our  devotion  into  a  stronger,  brighter  flame.  And  circumstances,  let  them  be 
what  they  may,  they  shall  only  bind  us  more  closely  to  Christ.  O  brethren,  let 
this  devotion  to  Christ  and  his  cause  characterize  our  work  as  Endeavorers. 

In  conclusion,  I  want  to  say  a  word,  if  I  may,  in  regard  to  continuity  in 
Christian  consecration.  There  are  many  people  of  only  one  experience.  They 
always  go  back  to  the  day  of  their  conversion  and  never  seem  to  get  a  step 
further  than  that.  As  though  their  poor  lives  are  an  adequate  result  of  what 
should  be  the  result  of  the  work  which  Christ  has  done  for  men  on  Calvary! 
We  are  as  nothing  compared  to  the  glory  that  is  to  be  revealed.    Paul  said, 


24  Official  Report  of  the 

"  Forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  to  those  things 
which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  He  was  never  satisfied,  and  again  and  again  the 
apostle  pointed  out  that  there  was  an  inheritance  reserved  for  us. 

We  have  often  been  told  that  our  Christian  life  is  a  matter  of  growth.  We 
dare  not,  we  can  not  stand  still.  Onward,  upward,  higher  and  higher  day  by 
day.  Is  your  consecration  continual  ?  Is  there  not  a  danger  lest  in  our  monthly 
consecration  meetings  we  shall  simply  go  back  into  the  old  place  month  after 
month  ?  That  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  consecration 
meeting.  It  is  rather  that  we  should,  month  by  month,  if  not  day  by  day,  take 
our  alpenstock  and  mount  higher  and  higher.  Is  your  consecration  continual  ? 
Is  it  a  matter  of  growth  day  by  day  .>*  —  conquest  and  victory  one  after  the 
other  as  long  as  we  live.-'  God  grant  that  your  consecration  may  be  of  this 
individual  character  —  entire  self-surrender,  and  continuous  in  its  growth  ! 

Oh,  let  me  know  the  power  of  thy  resurrection  ! 

Oh,  let  me  show  thy  risen  life  in  calm  and  clear  reflection  ! 

Oh,  let  me  soar  where  thou,  my  Saviour  Christ,  art  gone  before  ! 

In  mind  and  heart  let  me  be  always  where  thou  art ! 

The  "  quiet  hour"  was  in  charge  of  the  Rev.  A.  F.  McGregor,  B.A.,  of 
Woodstock,  Can.,  President  of  the  Ontario  Provincial  Christian  En- 
deavor Union.  He  referred  in  his  opening  remarks  to  the  meeting  of 
the  officers  of  the  United  Society  with  the  State  and  Provincial  presi- 
dents held  throughout  the  day,  as  a  fine  instance  of  the  spiritualization 
of  a  business  meeting.  The  benefits  of  prayer  were  great  and  mani- 
fest. Christ  taught  us  to  pray  by  his  example  and  precepts.  A  season 
of  silent  prayer  followed  ;  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,"  and  "My  Jesus, 
I  Love  Thee,"  were  sung  ;  a  number  of  brief  testimonies  were  givea 
from  the  pews,  and  the  pastor  of  the  church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Butler,  closed 
the  meeting  with  an  earnest  prayer  and  the  benediction. 

Gunton  Temple  Memorial  Church. 

The  Endeavorers  of  the  Gunton  Temple  Memorial  Church,  in  addition 
to  their  fine  house  of  worship,  at  the  corner  of  14th  and  R  streets,  have 
a  chapel  just  across  the  street ;  consequently,  they  entertained  their 
visitors  at  the  latter  building,  reserving  the  church  and  its  charms  for 
the  general  meetings.  The  elaborate  green  and  gold  of  the  interior 
last  evening  was  touched  up  just  enough  here  and  there  with  bits  of 
red,  white,  and  blue  to  relieve  the  otherwise  somber  appearance  of  the 
church,  and  to  render  it  one  of  the  handsomest  auditoriums  presented 
to  the  Endeavorers.  The  pulpit  was  banked  with  flowers,  while  just 
over  the  reading-desk  was  draped  "  Old  Glory."  In  the  enforced 
absence  of  the  pastor,  Dr.  Patch,  Rev.  Howard  Wilbur  Ennis,  pastor 
of  the  Western  Presbyterian  Church  of  Washington,  the  presiding  offi- 
cer, opened  the  programme  by  announcing  the  hymn,  "  Sunshine  in  My 
Soul,"  which  was  sung  by  the  audience,  led  by  a  piano,  played  by  Miss 
Nellie  King,  the  organist  of  the  church.  Prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield,  pastor  of  the  Warren  Avenue  Congregational 
Church,  Chicago,  who  thanked  God  for  one  very  noticeable  feature  of 
the  Convention, —  the  total  absence  of  any  railroad  accidents;  and  then 
asking  a  blessing  on  the  officers  of  the  United  Society,  the  local  officers, 
and  on  everybody  present,  concluded  with  the  Lord's  Prayer,  repeated 


Fifteenth  Iiitcniational  Convention.  25 

by  all    present.     A  hymn  preceded  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  2d 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  by  Rev.   Ralph  Gillam,  of  Maiden,  Mass., 
and  then    "Hear  Us,  O  Saviour!"  was  sung. 
The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield,  Chicago,  III. 

God  be  thanked,  Mr.  Chairman  and  fellow  Endeavorers,  for  this  great  Con- 
vention. P'or  twelve  months  we  have  felt  the  mighty  heart-beat  of  that  great 
gathering  at  Boston  and  have  looked  toward  this  with  hope  and  prayer  that  it 
might  prove  mightier  still.  The  Christian  Endeavor  forces  are  God's  recruiting 
army  for  the  spiritual  conquest  of  the  world.  As  in  Palestine,  once  a  year, 
the  children  of  Abraham  gathered  to  Jerusalem,  the  capital  of  the  country, 
that  they  might  stand  before  God  and  receive  new  visions  of  possibility  and 
new  messages  of  duty,  so  we,  the  new  children  of  the  covenant,  are  gathered 
here  in  Washington,  the  capital  of  our  nation.  This  is  the  Passover  feast  for 
the  young  people  of  the  world.  By  as  much  as  this  country  and  the  sister 
countries  about  us  are  greater  than  Palestine,  as  our  mountains  tower  above 
her  foot-hills,  our  great  plains  throw  their  ripening  harvests  beyond  her  valleys; 
as  our  cities  throb  with  power  and  flash  with  glory  undreamed  of  in  Palestine, 
so  should  this  gathering  receive  such  showers  of  blessing  and  strength  as 
never  fell  on  the  people  gathered  on  the  sacred  hills  of  Zion  and  Moriah. 

Through  the  valleys  and  over  the  mountains  we  have  sung  our  way  ;  we  have 
come  loaded  with  lunch-baskets,  banners,  and  Bibles.  We  have  been  jammed 
and  pounded  into  the  magnificent  brevity  of  sleeping-cars  until,  like  hungry 
bears  in  the  spring,  we  come  forth  to  devour  the  feast  that  is  spread.  Possibly 
some,  because  of  delightful  acquaintances  found  along  the  way,  or  the  splendor 
of  this  queenly  city,  have  already  forgotten  their  mission  here,  and  the  open- 
ing services  should  bring  all  face  to  face  with  the  great  issues  before  us. 
To-night,  my  friends,  we  are  not  here  as  tourists,  although  we  shall  enjoy  the 
national  buildings  and  the  halls  where  our  legislators  hook  and  stamp  each 
other.  Some  of  us  are  here  with  big  eyes  to  see  where  some  of  our  laws  have 
come  from.  We  have  been  whififing  mountain  air  and  pure  ozone  from  the 
prairies  and  we  want  to  learn  what  foulness  here  could  give  them  birth.  Yet 
ours  is  a  higher  mission  than  to  mouse  around  in  the  political  garbage  box  to 
find  some  decayed  corruption  that  is  sent  abroad  beneath  the  label  of  American 
citizenship.  The  motto  which  hangs  out  before  the  mind  of  each  Christian 
Endeavor  youth  reads :  "  For  Christ,  Church,  and  Country."  Each  one  of  these 
great  words  will  be  lifted  up  until  it  will  unfold  like  a  banner  of  victory,  and 
beneath  our  triple  ensign  the  millions  of  American  youth  propose  to  stand. 
Later  on  there  will  be  something  said  about  the  church  and  country,  but  to-night 
we  gather  about  that  first  great  word,  the  one  above  all  others,  the  one  whose 
we  are  and  whom  we  serve,  even  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  How  fitting  that  in 
the  beginning  from  all  these  places  of  sacred  worship  we  humbly  and  fervently 
salute  Almighty  God !  Oh,  that  we  may  come  here  as  channels  through  which 
to  you  may  flow  the  love  and  devotion  of  our  home  work  and  also  from  this 
gathering  that  there  may  come  great  tidal  waves  that  will  surge  back  with  us 
and  fill  with  a  new  power  and  life  the  dried  places  and  shallow  streams  where 
we  toil!  P>om  the  great  ocean  of  thy  infinite  deep,  O  God,  send  uplifting 
currents !  O  Holy  Spirit  of  power,  which  dwelt  in  Christ  and  urged  him  ever 
to  holiest  endeavor,  come  and  dwell  in  each  one  here  !  Come  to  us  as  the  sun, 
which,  breaking  through  the  dark  folds  of  night  and  the  ice  fields  of  spring, 
quickens  into  a  new  life  each  leafless  tree  and  buried  seed.  Come  to  us  as  the 
wind,  which  laps  up  the  pool  and  leaves  the  clean  highway  for  travel.  Come, 
if  need  be,  even  as  fire,  until  the  hay  and  stubble  are  consumed  and  we  build 
imperishably  on  the  everlasting  foundation. 

We  are  asked  to  speak  to  the  theme,  "  Deepening  of  the  Spiritual  Life,"  and 
we  will  try  and  place  what  we  desire  to  say  in  the  answers  to  three  questions. 

First,  Does  the  spiritual  life  need  deepening.?  It  requires  not  a  careful 
study  to  learn  that  something  is  wrong  in  the  spiritual  world.     Few  chapters 


26  Official  Report  of  the 

are  now  added  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Out  of  an  upper  room,  with  souls 
aglow  with  prayer,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  tlames  upon  them,  went  a 
humble,  unlearned  band.  But  they  shook  Jerusalem;  their  voices  rolled  like 
great  thunders  through  the  hollow  and  meaningless  worship  of  their  time;  they 
were  saved  and  at  once  became  saviors,  and  the  church  grew  and  multiplied 
and  God  added  daily  to  himself  through  their  faith  and  work.  Times  have 
greatly  changed.  We  have  no  upper  room  for  prayer  now.  Our  greatest  room 
is  the  basement,  where  we  hold  socials  and  serve  ice  cream  and  cake.  We  do 
have  a  prayer-meeting,  but  in  it  we  repeat  poetry  and  have  long,  cold  pauses. 
We  are  learning  splendidly  how  to  stop.  We  believe  that  silence  is  golden. 
The  favorite  psalm  for  the  modern  church  is  the  twenty-third,  and  especially 
that  verse  which  says,  "  He  maketh  me  to  lie  dotun.'''  The  old  apostolic  life 
that  prayed  and  fasted,  that  stood  true  to  weak  causes,  although  stoned  and 
beaten  and  imprisoned,  has  been  left  back  in  the  heroic  and  conquering  days  of 
Christianity.  We  are  told  that  Peter  preached  one  sermon  and  saved  three 
thousand  people.  Now  it  requires  three  thousand  sermons  to  save'one  person. 
We  are  told  that  the  disciples  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word  of  God. 
They  still  go  everywhere,  they  bend  over  the  card-table,  swing  in  the  waltz, 
occupy  chief  seats  at  the  theatre,  make  money  in  questionable  ways;  but  as  for 
preaching  the  word  of  God,  that  is  given  to  the  minister,  who  reads  essays 
about  stars  and  flowers,  and  delivers  courses  of  addresses  about  the  word 
"  Selah."  No  wonder  that  the  church  stands  powerless  before  a  devil-tormented 
world.  Much  of  our  Christian  work  is  a  sad  travesty  on  sacred  things.  The 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  learns  that  it  should  go  fishing  for  men.  It  equips 
itself  with  elaborate  tackle.  It  secures  a  fish  pole  like  unto  a  telegraph  pole. 
It  chooses  a  line  as  comely  as  a  street-car  cable.  The  hook  is  like  a  scant  hook 
with  which  lumbermen  skid  logs.  Then,  using  a  few  old  platitudes  and  dried 
and  withered  services  for  bait,  it  is  ready.  When  the  society  are  all  present, 
amid  the  singing  of  "  Throw  Out  the  Life  Line."  the  janitor  lowers  a  rear  win- 
dow and,  heaving  out  the  preparation  to  the  street,  they  practically  say,  "  There, 
swallow  that  or  you  are  lost."  Philip  stopped  the  Ethiopian  in  the  desert; 
Andrew  went  to  his  brother  Peter;  Jesus  talked  with  the  woman  at  the  well. 
The  great  uplifting  epochs  of  church-life  have  been  when  the  disciples  went 
everywhere  preaching  the  word  of  God.  And  one  great  demonstration  of  the 
need  of  a  deeper  spiritual  life  is  the  purposeless,  lax,  and  unstriving  condition 
of  the  church  now. 

Only  a  deep  spiritual  life  will  be  felt  in  the  times  in  which  we  are  living.  If 
it  required  consecration  and  holy  impulse  to  reach  men  eighteen  centuries  ago, 
how  much  more  does  it  require  it  now  ?  Without  the  help  of  God  we  are  pow- 
erless before  the  rushing,  busy  age.  As  carpenters  pound  wedges  into  timber 
with  mauls,  so  do  we  need  to  pound  ideas  into  people. 

Second,  How  may  the  spiritual  life  be  deepened  .'^  The  whole  philosophy  of 
the  larger  Christian  life  is  found  in  Mark's  Gospel,  where  it  is  recorded  of 
Christ  that,  "  He  ordained  twelve,  that  they  should  be  with  him,  and  that  he 
might  send  them  forth  to  preach  and  have  power."  Here  is  the  mountain 
spring  from  which  the  great  stream  flowed.  Being  in  the  school  of  Christ  until 
we  have  the  presence  of  Christ,  the  guidance  of  Christ,  and  the  power  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  order  in  which  they  always  come.  First  presence,  then  guidance, 
and  then  power.  In  the  presence  of  Christ  the  disciples  learned  his  spirit  and 
method.  They  saw  him  prosperous  but  not  proud,  disappointed  but  not  dis- 
mayed, abused  but  not  abusing.  In  Christ  lay  the  spirit  of  victory.  The 
mightiest  force  in  all  the  world  is  a  heroic  and  sympathetic  soul.  It  would 
overcome  the  thrones  of  the  Caesars,  and  all  the  mighty  traditions  and  strength 
of  the  past  would  be  driftwood  tossed  before  a  steamer  on  its  way.  The  hope 
and  joy  of  Christ  that  looked  from  the  night  towards  a  new  day,  and  from  hard- 
ship and  pain  to  the  rest  at  the  steps  of  God's  throne,  found  lodgment  in  the 
disciples.  They  saw  this  man  at  work.  He  fed  the  hungry  and  ministered 
with  loving  hands  to  those  in  pain.  He  established  his  kingdom  by  saving 
men  one  by  one.  He  seemed  to  think  other  things  of  little  value  when  a  soul 
was  in  sin  and  he  could  lead  it  to  God.     The  spirit  and  method  of  Jesus  Christ 


Fifteenth  International  Conventio?i.  27 

can  only  be  secured  by  staying  in  his  company.     To  be  with  Christ  is  to  grow 
Christ-Hke. 

You  know  the  power  that  lay  in  the  apostles'  lives.  With  such  humble  men 
God  flayed  the  mountains.  Along  such  simple  wires  God  flashed  the  message 
of  his  love.  Through  such  clay  and  broken  conduct  pipes  God  poured  the 
ocean  of  his  fulness  into  the  valley  places  and  desert  regions  of  men.  They 
had  taken  time  to  be  with  Jesus  ;  they  were  willing  to  be  guided  by  Jesus. 
They  received  the  power  of  Jesus.  Oh  that  we  might  so  stand  in  the  presence 
of  Christ,  that  like  the  disciples  we  might  be  with  him  until  his  likeness  would 
be  fixed  in  us  and  we  might  go  forth  and  reproduce  him  ! 

Third,  What  might  a  deeper  spiritual  life  accomplish }  I  do  not  know. 
God's  power  is  hard  to  measure.  God  in  the  hearts  of  a  few  people  at  Pentecost 
made  Jerusalem  ring  with  the  gospel  and  carried  it  out  along  the  highways  of 
Judea  and  Galilee.  God  in  the  hearts  of  a  few  in  Germany  drove  papal  bigotry 
to  the  Tiber.  God  in  the  hearts  of  a  few  scholars  in  England  placed  the  Bible 
in  the  hands  of  the  common  people,  until  Tyndale's  words  came  true  that  the 
plow  boy  of  Saxony  knew  more  of  the  Scripture  than  the  pope  himself.  It  has 
beaten  the  fetters  from  the  negro  and  spread  before  him  books  for  study.  It 
has  lifted  woman  from  the  place  of  a  slave  and  made  her  the  queen  of  a  home. 
It  has  made  the  words  "mother,  home,  and  heaven"  the  sweetest  in  all  the  vo- 
cabulary of  mankind.  God's  unhindered  power  in  a  human  heart — who  can 
measure  it?  It  has  given  the  world  aSpurgeon,  a  Phillips  Brooks,  and  a  Moody. 
It  has  sent  missionaries  to  the  heathen  and  opened  the  purses  of  the  rich  ia 
great  philanthropies.  Oh,  if  all  who  bear  the  name  of  Christ  were  only  given 
over  to  his  service,  what  might  not  be  done !  What  a  revival  would  spread ! 
The  empty  pews  of  churches  would  be  filled  not  with  a  dense  vacancy  but  a 
crowded  throng.  I  think  we  would  have  money  sufficient  to  pay  the  indebted- 
ness of  our  missionary  boards.  "  The  trouble  does  not  come  from  hard  times 
but  a  soft  religion."  When  it  means  something  to  belong  to  the  church,  the 
church  will  mean  something  in  the  world.  Christ  said  the  gates  of  hell  should 
not  prevail  against  it.  But  those  gates  need  to  be  shut  and  spiked.  Why  leave 
them  forever  open  .?  Why  let  indecent  literature  flood  us  .''  Why  let  the  saloon 
blight  and  blast  and  damn.?  Why  let  Sabbath  desecration  run  over  the  moral 
law,  breaking  it  into  more  fragments  than  when  Moses  shattered  the  ten  com- 
mandments by  the  altar  of  the  Golden  Calf?  Why  let  the  heathen  millions  go 
unevangelized  while  thousands  at  home  are  never  urged  to  accept  Christ?  We 
need  a  deeper  spiritual  life,  one  that  places  our  eyes  on  the  great  duties  and 
issues  of  life.  We  need  to  be  with  Christ  and  learn  his  spirit  and  method.  We 
need  his  guidance  and  power  and  then  together  like  a  great  and  mighty  army 
commence  to  take  the  world  for  God.  Oh,  children  of  God's  right  hand,  enlist! 
Put  on  the  whole  armor!  Take  the  keen,  flashing  sword,  and  drawing  it  from 
the  scabbard  let  it  blaze  in  the  light !  And  may  this  Convention  equip  us  as 
never  before  for  the  splendid  triumphs  of  the  gospel ! 

The  next  speaker  represented  the  Southern  Presbyterians,—  the 
Rev.  F.  P.  Ramsay,  of  Augusta,  Ky. 

Address  of  Rev.  F.  P.  Ramsay,  Augusta,  Kentucky. 

I.     What  is  the  Spiritual  Life? 

I.  It  is  to  be  distinguished  from  (a)  the  business,  the  social,  and  even  the 
religious  life.  Two  men  may  follow  the  same  business,  doing  the  same  things 
according  to  the  same  rules,'  and  with  the  same  success,  as  two  partners  in  the 
same  business;  and  one  of  them  may  be  living  a  spiritual  life  and  the  other  not. 
Two  men  may  be  twin  brothers,  appear  always  together  in  the  same  social 
intercourse,  and,  by  any  merely  social  standard,  behave  equally  well;  and  the 
one  may  be  living  a  spiritual  life  and  the  other  not.  So  also  may  those  two 
men  be  members  of  the  same  church,  teachers  in  its  Sabbath  school,  and 
workers  in  its  Endeavor  Society,  being  equally  active  in  the  same  religious 
work,  living,  in  one  sense,  a  religious  life,  and  each  the  same  religious  life;  and 


28  Official  Report  of  the 

yet  the  one  may  be  living  a  spiritual  life  and  the  other  not.  But  let  me  not  be 
misunderstood.  These  forms  of  activity  are  not  separate  from  spiritual  activ- 
ity, in  such  a  sense  that  a  man  lives  a  spiritual  life  outside  of  his  business,  or 
of  his  social  intercourse,  or  of  his  religious  work;  for  if  one  is  living  a  right 
spiritual  life,  this  spiritual  will  lay  hold  of  one's  business  activities  and  social 
intercourse  and  religious  work  as  directions  in  which  to  put  itself  forth.  The 
spiritual  life  will  embody  itself  in  these  forms  of  living.  But  these  may  exist, 
and  in  a  high  degree  of  beauty  and  efficiency,  in  those  who  have  no  spiritual 
life  at  all.  ib)  In  a  somewhat  different  sense,  the  spiritual  life  is  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  physical  and  the  intellectual  life.  For  two  men  may  live 
the  same  life  as  animals,  and  very  much  the  same  life  as  minds,  and  be  spiritu- 
ally in  contrast.  That  man  is  compounded  of  three  substances,  matter,  mind, 
and  spirit,  I  do  not  say,  and  doubt  the  philosophical  correctness  of  this  theory; 
but  certainly  on  one  side  man  lies  against  the  visible  and  material  world,  and 
on  the  other  against  the  unseen  and  spiritual  world.  The  mind  may  be  said  to 
come  in  contact  with  the  material  and  outward  through  the  senses  of  the  body, 
and  in  contact  with  the  spiritual  and  inward  through  the  sensibilities  of  the 
spirit.  Outwardly,  man  is  a  physical  organism  ;  inwardly  he  is  a  discerning 
spirit.  In  the  body  he  lives  with  things  in  the  spirit,  with  persons.  With- 
out he  has  to  do  with  animals,  within  he  has  to  do  with  spirits.  And  accord- 
ingly the  spiritual  life  is  not  primarily  in  the  physical  being  nor  even  in  the 
mental  nature,  but  back,  within,  on  the  spiritual  side,  on  that  side  of  man  in 
which  he  lies  in  contact  with  the  invisible  and  spiritual  world,  {c)  Once  more, 
as  by  spiritual  life  we  mean  right  spiritual  life,  as  over  against  wrong  activity 
on  the  spiritual  side  of  our  being,  we  must  contrast  the  spiritual  life  with  the 
fleshly  or  carnal  life.  The  right  and  the  wrong  spiritual  life  agree  in  this,  that 
each  is  the  man's  life  lived  with  spiritual  beings  ;  for  man  can  not  live  spiritually 
alone,  any  more  than  he  can  live  physically  alone.  As  outwardly  he  must  be 
in  contact  with  material  things,  so  inwardly  he  must  be  in  intercourse  with 
spiritual  persons.  And  a  man  lives  a  right  spiritual  life  when  he  lives  in  com- 
munion with  righteous  spirits;  and  he  lives  a  wrong  spiritual  life  when  he  lives 
in  communion  with  sinful  spirits. 

II.  Turning  our  attention,  then,  away  from  business  and  social  activities, 
and  even  from  religious  activities,  passing  from  the  physical  through  the  intel- 
lectual on  to  the  spiritual  side  of  our  being,  and  then  contrasting  what  is  alone 
worthy  the  name  of  spiritual  life  with  the  activity  of  the  human  spirit  in  com- 
munion with  the  evil  in  the  spiritual  world,  the  truly  spiritual  life  with  the 
enslaving  of  the  human  spirit  to  carnality,  we  now  come  to  our  question.  How 
to  Deepen  the  Spiritual  Life.  And  I  sum  up  all  that  I  have  to  say  on  how  to 
deepen  the  spiritual  life  in  one  word.  Live  it. 

I.  Since  the  spiritual  life  is  living  in  communion  with  the  righteous  Spirit, 
{a)  we  must  live  in  communion  with  God,  who  is  the  righteous  Spirit;  (b)  we 
must  live  in  communion  with  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  God  revealed  to  sinners. 
Jesus  Christ  is  God  in  touch  with  man,  God  within  the  reach  and  grasp  of  man, 
God  become  a  fellow  to  man,  so  that  fellowship  between  him  and  man  is  possible 
and  easy.  In  other  words,  we  do  not  deepen  the  spiritual  by  contemplation  of  the 
Infinite  in  abstract  thought,  but  rather  by  communion  with  God  as  he  is  made 
known  to  us  in  Christ.  Transcendentalism  is  not  spirituality,  {c)  And  we  must 
live  in  communion  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  Christ  within.  In  the  Biblical  rec- 
ord Christ  is  two  thousand  years  away  ;  but  through  the  Holy  Spirit  he  becomes 
present.  Christ  sitteth  on  his  throne  beyond  the  stars  ;  but  through  the  Holy 
Spirit  he  is  here  with  us  all  the  days.  The  Holy  Spirit  taketh  Christ  from 
before  our  eyes,  and  putteth  him  behind  our  eyes,  within  the  sensibilities  of  our 
spirits.  It  is  in  this  inward,  immediate  and  vital  touch  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
that  spiritual  life  originates;  and  spiritual  life  deepens  just  in  proportion  as 
this  the  Holy  Spirit  pervades,  permeates,  and  vitalizes  the  human  spirit.  This 
life  does  not  begin  or  continue  as  ceremony,  which  is  materiality ;  nor  as 
thought,  which  is  intellectuality  :  but  as  life,  as  spiritual  vitality.  It  is  not  by 
doing,  or  by  thinking,  that  we  live,  but  by  living.     And  spiritual  life  is  the  life 


Fifteenth  International  Conventio)i.  29 

of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  human  spirit,  is  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  the  spirit  of 
man  living  in  communion. 

2.  In  tfie  second  place,  since  this  life  is  communion  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  it 
must  be,  on  the  part  of  the  human  spirit,  a  life  of  obedience,  of  love,  and  of 
faith,  {a)  It  must  be  a  life  of  obedience.  The  human  spirit  in  close  contact 
with  the  Divine  Spirit  must  be  in  an  attitude  of  reverential  awe,  the  attitude  of 
obedience  ;  for  the  creature  can  not  be  in  harmony  with  the  Creator  while  dis- 
obedient to  him.  And  here  much  is  gained  by  distinguishing,  if  we  do  not 
press  the  distinction  too  far,  between  obedience  to  the  conscience  and  obedience 
to  the  Holy  Spirit.  For  this  is  obedience  to  Another,  and  that  may  be  but 
obedience  to  myself ;  this  is  reverence  for  God,  this  may  be  only  self-respect. 
The  habit  of  listening  constantly  to  the  Holy  Spirit  rather  than  to  the  con- 
science, to  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking  to  us  through  the  auditory  nerve  of  our 
spirit,  the  conscience,  rather  than  to  the  vibrations  of  the  nerve  itself,  conscious 
submission  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  constant  sensitiveness  and  yielding  to  his  guid- 
ing touch,  this  is  livmg  spiritually.  (/;)  Or  it  must  be  a  life  of  love.  For  all 
right  ethical  life  is  love.  Obedience  to  the  spirit  of  Christ  can  not  but  be  love 
to  Christ  expressing  itself,  and  the  love  of  Christ  towards  others  expressing 
itself  For  love  is  life  become  conscious  of  direction,  {c)  Or  it  must  be  a  life 
of  faith.  And  how  does  one  despair  of  himself  when  contemplating  this  spirit- 
ual life  !  It  is  not  in  me  to  live  this  life.  It  must  be  Christ  living  in  me.  It 
must  come  from  my  surrender,  from  the  mastery  of  my  spirit  by  God's  spirit. 
But  as  my  life  must  be  willing  action,  it  must  come  from  the  willing  surrender 
of  love,  which  is  faith.  But  this  faith  is  not  one  act  never  repeated,  but  it  is 
one  action  never  interrupted.  The  human  spirit  begins  to  live  in  beginning  to 
trust  Christ  under  the  persuasion  of  his  Spirit ;  and  it  continues  to  live  in  con- 
tinuing thus  to  trust ;  and  it  deepens  this  life  in  deepening  this  faith.  By 
instant  and  sensitive  obedience,  by  serving  and  seeking  love,  by  trustful,  surren- 
dering faith,  we  live  the  spiritual  life  ;  and  by  fuller  obedience  and  tenderer  love 
and  completer  faith  of  our  human  spirit  toward  the  divine,  we  deepen  our 
spiritual  life. 

3.  And  in  the  last  place,  we  deepen  our  spiritual,  we  increase  the  fulness  of 
our  inner  communion  with  God,  by  living  this  spiritual  life  out  into  all  forms 
of  our  living,  {a)  There  must  be  no  double  life  tolerated  within  our  own  spirit. 
Submission  to  the  Holy  Spirit  is  contradictory  of  submission  to  Satan  or  to  the 
flesh,  or  to  self,  {b)  We  must  have  our  spiritual  life  to  permeate  and  dominate 
our  intellectual  life.  The  spiritual  must  dictate  what  to  read  and  what  to  think 
about,  and  our  intellectual  activity  must  be  in  the  service  of  the  spirit.  Whether 
we  pursue  science  or  art,  we  must  do  it  with  spiritual  consciousness,  {c)  And 
then  this  spiritualized  intelligence  must  dominate  our  physical  life.  The  pres- 
ervation of  health  and  the  purgation  of  passion,  the  choice  of  amusements  and 
the  regulation  of  such  merely  animal  functions  as  eating  and  drinking,  all  must 
be  baptized  in  spirituality,  (d)  Or,  in  a  different  direction,  we  must  make  our 
whole  religious  life  spiritual.  Reading  the  Bible,  meditation,  prayer,  all  forms 
of  private  and  public  worship,  and  all  forms  of  benevolent,  church,  and  evangel- 
istic work,  may  become  mechanical  habit  instead  of  conscious  spirit.  Or  they 
may  rise  no  higher  than  conscientiousness,  observing  certain  rules  and  doing 
certain  duties  ;  whereas  they  should  be  the  free  spirit  putting  itself  forth  in 
warm  and  living  love,  {e)  We  must  make  also  our  whole  social  life  spiritual. 
Spiritual  life  is  communion  with  spiritual  persons.  In  social  life  we  meet  many 
that  are  not  spiritual,  and  much  of  our  intercourse  with  those  who  are  spiritual 
is  not  with  them  as  spiritual.  Therefore  we  must  beware  lest  in  such  social  life 
we,  at  least  momentarily,  lose  consciousness  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  By  ever 
looking  at  these  people  with  his  eyes  and  talking  with  them  with  his  lips  and 
working  or  playing  with  them  with  his  mind,  not  forgetting  his  presence  or 
letting  cease  a  conscious  sympathy  with  him,  we  shall  be  able  to  lift  the  social 
into  the  spiritual,  {f)  And  also  our  whole  business  life  we  must  make  spiritual. 
Here  meet  together  all  the  dangers  that  we  have  named  in  connection  with  the 
religious  and  the  social  life.  For  it  is  so  easy  in  business  to  become  mechani- 
cal, to  become  a  machine  instead  of  a  conscious  person  ;  it  is  so  easy  to  become 


30  Official  Report  of  the 

merely  conscientious,  obedient  to  rule,  instead  of  freely  loving ;  it  is  so  easy  to 
fix  the  attention  on  the  business  instead  of  on  Him  for  whom  we  do  all  our  work  ; 
and  it  is  so  easy  to  think  of  the  people  about  us  and  forget  the  Christ  within  us. 
It  is  most  perilous  to  engage  in  making  money,  but  it  is  spiritual  to  engage  in 
making  money  for  Christ.  Let  us  do  all  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  in  conscious 
communion  with  him  of  aim  and  action. 

And  we  may  sum  up  this  whole  address  in  the  oft-quoted  text,  "  Work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in 
you ;  "  only  we  should  correctly  translate  it,  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation, 
with  reverence  and  awe,  because  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you." 

At  the  close  of  the  last  address  in  the  Gunton  Presbyterian  Church, 
there  was  a  "quiet  hour,"  which  was  led  by  Rev.  Ralph  Gillam,  the 
evangelist,  which  was  indeed  a  quiet  hour. 

Kendall  Baptist  Church. 

A  large  reception  was  given  to  the  delegates  of  Kansas  at  the 
Kendall  Baptist  Church.  The  stained  glass  windows  of  the  church 
were  decorated  with  bunting,  while  from  the  chandeliers  were  stretched 
strips  of  red,  white,  and  blue  to  the  altar.  The  organ  was  draped 
artistically  with  Christian  Endeavor  and  United  States  fiags.  Above 
the  organ  the  motto,  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof," 
was  written  in  blue  letters.  To  the  right  of  the  altar  was  the  writing 
and  resting  room,  which  had  been  elegantly  furnished  with  plush  chairs 
and  sofas,  while  the  two  lights  were  draped  and  connected  with  bunt- 
ing. The  reception-room  was  at  the  entrance,  and  was  covered  with  a 
United  States  flag.  Just  inside  the  door  was  the  entertainment  booth, 
and  not  ten  feet  away  the  registration  stand.  The  room  in  the  tower, 
which  was  used  for  the  State's  officers,  was  one  of  the  most  comfort- 
able spots  in  the  church. 

The  Rev.  Theron  Cutwater,  the  pastor,  presided  at  the  meeting,  and 
after  welcoming  the  visitors,  introduced  the  Rev.  C.  S.  Mason,  of  Los 
Angeles,  Cal,  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening. 

Address  of  Rev.  C.  S.  Mason,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  author  of  all  life,  physical,  mental,  spiritual. 
We  get  spiritual  life  by  looking  to  Jesus  Christ.  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  ser- 
pent in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted,  that  whosoever 
believed  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  The  deeper  we 
are  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  that  love  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by  the 
Holv  Ghost,  the  sweeter,  brighter,  deeper,  and  more  profound  will  our  spiritual 
life  be.  We  are  transformed  by  beholding,  meditating,  thinking.  Thoughts  of 
the  world  oft  show  the  impress  of  the  world,  whereas,  if  I  think  of  Christ,  I 
get  the  impress  of  Christ.  Let  us  think  of  him.  Christ  was  tender,  loving, 
sympathizing,  long-suffering,  forgiving.  Have  we  his  spirit?  The  fruit  of  the 
spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance. 
Jesus  v/as  courteous,  patient.  When  reviled,  he  reviled  not  again.  When  per- 
secuted, he  opened  not  his  mouth.  He  was  social,  honest,  brave,  business-like, 
prayerful,  in  fellowship  with  God  the  Father.  As  we  contemplate  him  can  we 
not  say, 

'•  I  love  thee,  Lord, 

But  with  no  love  of  mine. 
I  love  thee.  Lord, 

But  all  the  love  is  thine." 


Fifteenth  Internatio7ial  Convention.  31 

We  see  Christ  in  the  garden,  and  we  enter  into  his  suffering;  but  we  have 
the  assurance  if  we  suffer  with  him  here,  we  shall  be  glorified  with  him  there. 

Changed  from  strength  to  strength,  from  power  to  power,  from  glory  to  glory, 
until  now  we  awake  in  the  King's  likeness. 

The  next  speaker,  Prof.  Amos  R.  Wells,  managing  editor  of  The 
Golden  Rule,  was  enthusiastically  received  and  made  a  deep  impression 
by  his  address,  which  was  one  of  the  very  strongest  and  most  uplifting 
of  any  during  the  entire  Convention.  After  Prof.  Wells'  address,  the 
Rev.  Chas.  A.  Oliver,  of  York,  Pa.,  conducted  a  "  quiet  hour." 

Vermont  Avenue  Christian  Church. 

Promptly  at  eight  o'clock,  the  hour  set  for  beginning  the  Endeavor 
services  at  the  Vermont  Avenue  Christian  Church,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  D.  Power, 
pastor  of  the  church,  announced  the  opening  of  the  exercises  with  the 
singing  of  the  old,  familiar  hymn,  "  Praise  God,  from  Whom  All  Bless- 
ings Flow."  At  that  hour  the  church  was  well  filled.  Nearly  all  of 
the  Indiana  delegates  were  present,  and  their  numbers  were  augmented 
by  their  friends  and  the  regular  parishioners  of  the  church.  Before  the 
exercises  were  half  over  every  seat  was  taken,  and  a  number  were  com- 
pelled to  go  away  disappointed. 

Rev.  Dr.  Power,  in  opening  the  exercises,  referred  to  the  joyous 
expectation  with  which  the  Christian  Endeavorers  had  looked  forward 
to  this  Convention. 

Owing  to  the  unavoidable  detention  of  Rev.  Dr.  Tupper,  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  was  to  have  delivered  the  first  address,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel 
Fallows,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Chicago,  III.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  United 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  representing  the  Reformed  Episcopal 
denomination,  made  an  impressive  address. 

After  the  singing  of  several  hymns.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  E.  Pounds,  pastor  of 
the  Central  Episcopal  Church  of  Indianapolis,  was  introduced. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  E.  Pounds,  D.D.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

The  subject,  "  Deepening  the  Spiritual  Life,"  practically  covers  all  the  ground 
of  the  work  of  Christ  and  the  Church  in  the  human  soul,  as  well  as  the  influence 
of  the  indwelling  spirit,  so  I  shall  by  no  means  attempt  to  speak  of  all  the 
essential  things,  nor  of  the  most  important  things,  of  the  subject,  but  shall  con- 
fine myself  to  a  few  thoughts  suggested  by  Paul  in  Galatians  ii.  20 :  "I  am 
crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me: 
and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me."  This  is  the  apostle's  statement  of  his 
own  spiritual  life.  Please  notice  in  it  these  points :  first,  the  preparation  for  it, 
"I  am  crucified  ;  "  second,  the  pattern  spiritual  life,  "  Christ  liveth  in  me ; "  third, 
the  province  of  its  development,  "  in  the  flesh  ;  "  fourth,  the  power  by  which  it 
is  sustained,  "  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  "  fifth,  the  purpose  which 
inspired  his  faith  and  desire  to  follow  the  Son  of  God,  "  who  loved  me  and  gave 
himself  for  me  "  —  the  preparation,  pattern,  province,  power,  and  purpose  of  the 
spiritual  life. 

First,  the  preparation,  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ."  This  is  essential.  Life 
is  born  of  death,  sanctity  of  sacrifice,  and  yet  humanity  has  ever  shrunk  from 
the  cross,  though  it  is  man's  greatest  blessing.  During  the  ministry  of  our 
Saviour  he  was  never  without  human  companionship  except  on  the  morning 
when  he  needed  help  to  carry  the  cross  up  the  mountain,  and  though  men  were 


32  Official  Report  of  the 

ashamed  to  be  by  his  side,  yet  the  walk  that  morning  was  the  noblest  and  the 
most  heroic  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  From  the  cruel  court  of  Pilate  to 
Calvary's  summit  is  as  far  as  from  selfish  pleasure  to  self-sacrifice,  as  far  as 
from  human  anger  to  divine  love,  as  far  as  from  the  injustice  of  earth  to  the 
righteousness  of  heaven,  as  far  as  from  the  spirit  of  Satan  to  the  spirit  of  God's 
dear  Son.  And  the  cross  is  after  all  a  paradox,  for  while  it  seems  a  hindrance 
to  a  journey,  it  is  really  a  help.  He  who  bears  the  cross  will  be  borne  by  it,  for 
no  one  of  humanity's  children  has  ever  climbed  as  high  as  Calvary's  summit 
unless  he  bore  the  cross ;  all  others  have  fallen  by  the  way.  He  that  would 
follow  Jesus  must  take  up  the  cross.  When  we  pray  for  the  holy  light,  we 
must  be  willing  to  be  made  holy,  willing  to  bear  the  cross,  that  we  may  reach 
the  summit  of  the  mountain,  for  God  will  give  us  strength.  Humility  ever 
comes  through  humiliation,  patience  is  born  of  pain,  sympathy  of  sorrow,  love 
and  charity  for  humanity  of  the  chastening  of  God.  Christian  pleasure  can 
only  commence  at  Calvary,  and  service  of  humanity  is  the  lead  by  which  depth 
of  spiritual  life  is  sounded.  1  sometimes  hear  an  Endeavorer  say,  "  I  am  en- 
joying my  religion,"  and  I  am  always  tempted  to  ask,  "  Well,  how  are  your 
neighbors  enjoying  it  ?     Are  they  any  happier  since  you  got  religion  ? " 

Second,  the  pattern  spiritual  life,  "Christ  liveth  in  me."  The  ideal 
Christian  life  is,  first  of  all,  real,  vital;  it  is  life  to  begin  with.  The  Endeavor 
Society  undertakes  to  do  nothing  for  a  man  until  he  is  regenerated,  except 
to  pray  and  labor  for  his  conversion.  "  Christ  liveth  in  me."  Christianity 
is  the  union  of  Christ  and  humanity.  The  first  lesson  I  learned  in  chem- 
istry was  that  there  is  a  difference  between  a  union  and  a  mixture.  You 
may  mix  sand  and  water  as  thoroughly  as  you  will,  and  it  will  be  sand  and 
water  still ;  but  bring  hydrogen  and  oxygen  together  in  proper  proportions  and 
they  will  unite  and  form  water,  an  entirely  new  substance,  having  properties 
different  from  both.  Christianity  is  the  union  of  Christ  and  humanity.  The 
Christian  is  a  new  creature,  produced  by  the  union  of  the  Son  of  God  with  a 
son  of  man.     "  Christ  liveth  in  me." 

Very  much  of  the  criticism  we  hear  against  Christianity  is  because  of  the 
acts  of  those  who  are  not  Christians  at  all,  for  a  man  may  be  brought  very  near 
to  Christ  —  may  know  considerable  about  him  —  may  even  preach  eloquently 
concerning  him  —  without  having  ever  united  with  him.  A  man  said  to  me, 
concerning  a  brother  whose  life  was  depraved,  "  Well,  Christianity  has  failed  in 
his  case."  "Failed!  No,"  I  said,  "  it  has  n't  even  been  tried."  The  vine  is 
not  condemned  by  the  barrenness  of  a  branch  which  is  not  in  the  vine. 

We  hear  very  much  talk  to-day  about  Christian  union,  and  very  much  of  it  is 
talk,  but  some  are  really  in  earnest  and  speak  of  church  union.  It  is  an  open 
question  if  this  is  desirable.  A  combination  of  the  various  sects  would  cer- 
tainly make  a  mixture,  but  not  a  union.  There  can  be  no  union  until  there  is 
unity.  Having  Christ  within  us,  we  should  let  him  occupy  more  and  more  of 
our  lives.  Paul's  idea  was  that  Christ  should  completely  predominate,  and 
such  an  idea  must  tend  to  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life. 

Third,  the  province  of  the  spiritual  development.  While  in  the  flesh  this 
world  is  not  a  barren  wilderness,  but  a  rich  valley,  fruitful  of  every  element 
necessary  to  the  growth  of  spiritual  life,  and  every  struggle  necessary  to  main- 
tain it  against  the  enemy  will  give  us  renewed  strength.  We  get  by  giving. 
"  He  that  loseth  his  life  shall  find  it."  Christianity  is  produced  paradoxically; 
it  increases  by  subtraction  and  multiplies  by  division.  To  give  is  to  live,  and 
to  deny  is  to  die.  He  who  is  most  in  the  world  for  service  will  be  the  least  in 
it  for  sin.  The  monastery  —  that  saddest  of  mistakes  —  shuts  out  the  possibility 
of  growth,  struggle,  service,  sympathy,  and  shuts  in  the  means  of  deterioration, 
selfishness,  lust,  and  laziness. 

As  the  life  grows  the  senses  become  keen  ;  they  become  keen  by  exercise. 
One  of  the  best  evidences  of  spiritual  attainment  is  keen  spiritual  sensibility. 
Peter  puts  it  in  this  way:  "  He  that  lacketh  these  things"  —  that  is,  courage, 
virtue,  etc.,  which  were  to  be  added  to  faith  —  "  is  blind,  and  can  not  see  afar 
off."  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  be  blind.  The  blind  are  so  prone  to  stumble !  Some 
people  very  often  say,  "  I  can  not  see  any  harm  in  the  play,  or  the  theatre,  or  in 


Fiftcoith  International  Convention.  33 

taking  a  bicycle  run  on  Sunday."  Can  not  see  any  harm  !  Possibly  they  are  a 
little  blind,  or  at  least  near-sighted ;  can  not  see  afar  off.  And  then  spiritual 
decay  affects  the  hearing.  They  can  not  hear  the  poor  ask  for  bread  ;  they  can 
not  hear  the  cry  of  the  heathen  in  foreign  lands. 

When  a  man  dies  spiritually  I  think  the  feet  grow  cold  first.  It  is  hard  to 
go  to  church  ;  and  then  he  can  not  see  any  good  in  attending  all  the  regular 
and  mid-week  services.  He  is  blind  as  well  as  lame,  for  he  never  sees  anything 
to  do.  But  even  a  blind  man  can  be  seen,  and  though  he  can  not  see  any  harm 
in  attending  the  play  and  in  not  attending  the  services  of  the  church,  the  world 
can  see  him  at  the  one  place  and  not  at  the  other,  and  that  will  do  harm. 

It  is  said  that  some  people  go  to  church  just  to  be  seen,  especially  about  the 
time  spring  bonnets  get  ripe.  The  practice  is  very  generally  condemned,  but  I 
believe  that  Endeavorers  ought  to  go  to  church  to  be  seen.  What  a  blessing  it 
would  be  to  the  children  if  they  could  see  their  parents  in  the  Sunday  school ! 
A  church-going  people  will  be  a  church-growing  people. 

Fourth,  the  power  that  sustains  the  spiritual  life,  "I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God."  That  is  not  food  ;  it  is  the  means  by  which  we  appropriate  food. 
The  virtue  is  not  in  the  faith,  but  in  the  Son  of  God.  Faith  keeps  the  Christian 
united  to  God,  as  the  branch  is  to  the  vine. 

The  Word  is  the  bread  of  life.  We  received  it  by  faith.  The  reason  God's 
Word  is  powerful  is  because  it  has  the  bread  of  life  within  it.  The  work  of  the 
church  is  very  simple.  The  commission  is  simple.  It  is  to  make  learners;  that 
is  all  —  disciples  of  all. 

To  prayerfully  read  God's  word  every  day  is  the  Endeavorer's  panacea  for  all 
the  ills  the  spiritual  flesh  is  heir  to.  The  Word  will  sustain  life  because  it  has  the 
principle,  the  germ,  of  life  within  it.  The  word  of  God  is  called  seed,  because  seed 
encloses  life.  Jesus  said,  "  My  words  are  life."  That  is  the  reason  the  truth  of 
God  will  sustain  when  all  the  wisdom,  teaching,  and  planning  of  men  fail. 

Man  plans,  and  God  commands.  Michael  Angelo  made  of  the  dust  of  the 
earth  an  image  like  that  which  God  made  in  Eden.  The  material  was  the 
same,  the  plan,  the  form,  were  the  same,  but  Angelo's  image  lacked  the  life 
which  God  breathed  into  his.  The  same  is  true  of  every  plan  formed  by  men 
for  the  well-being  of  the  world.  They  may  be  well  thought  out  and  very 
beautiful,  but,  like  man,  they  are  but  the  dust  of  the  earth,  though  arranged  in 
curious  form. 

The  truth  contained  in  God's  Word,  when  taken  into  our  lives,  will  nourish  us, 
because  it  has  life.  Truth  in  the  abstract  is  like  coal  in  the  mine,  it  is  stored 
up  for  the  use  of  man  ;  truth  in  the  concrete  is  like  coal  in  the  bin,  it  is  pre- 
pared for  the  use  of  man ;  but  truth  in  the  life,  truth  in  the  Christian  life,  is  like 
coal  in  the  fire-box  of  the  engine,  which  furnishes  the  power  not  only  to  turn 
the  wheels  of  the  mighty  engine,  but  to  draw  the  train  grandly  on.  And  the 
truth  of  God  in  Christian  lives  is  not  only  moving  them  on  ward,  but  is  drawing 
the  train  of  human  progress  grandly  upward  toward  the  City  of  Righteousness, 
wherein  dwelleth  peace. 

And  then  simplicity  of  faith  tends  to  deepen  spiritual  life.  "  The  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God."  Not  belief  in  many  things,  but  in  one  person.  The  more 
you  concentrate,  the  deeper  it  will  be.  A  personal  trust  in  the  personal  Christ 
is  the  essence  of  Christianity.  Do  not  try  to  believe  too  much,  for  as  you  mul- 
tiply the  planks  in  your  religious  platform,  the  danger  increases  that  some  will  be 
unsafe  ;  and  the  man  who  is  compelled  to  give  up  anything  that  he  has  h'  Id  as 
vital  to  Christian  faith  has  my  profoundest  sympathy,  for  it  will  shake  his  con- 
fidence in  all  that  remains.  I  say  I  pity  him.  He  is  trying  to  be  honest  with 
himself,  and  the  foundation  on  which  he  stands  is  going  to  pieces.  How  could 
he  develop  a  calm,  deep,  spiritual  life?  But  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  Cjod.  who 
is  the  same,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God  is  the 
faith  that  saves  and  sanctifies. 

Fifth,  and  last  of  all,  the  purpose  that  inspired  Paul's  life,  as  though  he 
would  say,  "  My  effort  is  to  please  Him  who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  forme."' 
It  was  a  potent  and  adequate  motive.  To  expect  deep  spiritual  life  from  super- 
ficial  motives  is  to  expect  the  effect  to  be  greater  than  the  cause.     And   what 


34  Official  Report  of  the 

low  motives  we  sometimes  present  to  people  to  become  Christians  —  a  fine 
church  building,  good  social  standing,  business  advantage  to  a  professional 
man,  are  offered  as  inducements  to  join  the  church.  Beggarly  motives  beget 
beggarly  services.  Only  the  fact  that  Christ  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me 
will  inspire  my  heart  and  direct  my  life. 

The  love  of  Christ  has  magic  power.  You  may  send  lecturers  to  the  South 
Sea  Islander,  and  inform  him  on  scientific  questions;  may  instruct  him  in  the 
laws  of  health  and  hygiene  ;  you  may  tell  him  how  far  it  is  to  the  sun  and  the 
stars;  that  it  is  finally  decided  that  Bacon  wrote  Shakespeare;  you  may  tell 
him  that  the  law  of  evolution  has  made  him  a  very  much  greater  and  better 
man  than  his  father; — he  will  be  a  cannibal  still.  But  let  the  humble  missionary 
go  and  kindly  say,  "  The  Son  of  God  loved  you,  and  gave  himself  for  you,"  and 
the  savage  heart  is  softened.  He  will  get  up  from  the  ground  and  clothe  him- 
self; he  will  provide  an  humble  home  for  his  wife  and  children;  will  build  a 
family  altar,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  sit  quietly  down  beside  his  former 
foe,  and  read  of  the  Son  of  God  who  loved  him  and  gave  himself  for  him. 

The  cross  of  Christ  is  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God.  Think 
what  the  cross  did  for  John,  the  apostle.  It  found  him  when  he  was  vicious 
enough  to  contend  for  a  chief  place  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  cruel  enough 
to  desire  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  his  enemies ;  but  how  humble  and  gentle 
it  made  him!  Tradition  tells  us  that  he  spent  the  years  of  his  old  age  at  Ephesus, 
pastor  of  a  church.  Too  feeble  to  walk,  loving  hands  carried  him  into  the  assembly- 
room  to  break  bread.  He  was  the  hero  of  many  battles.  He  had  defied  the  San- 
hedrim to  the  death;  had  expounded  the  Gospel  in  many  cities,  and  had  suf- 
fered imprisonment  many  times.  His  voice  was  too  feeble  to  say  more  than 
a  single  sentence,  but  on  each  Sunday  morning,  speaking  these  words,  he 
summed  up  all  that  he  had  learned  of  Christ's  will  and  the  Christian's  duty, — 
"  Little  children,  love  one  another." 

If  Christ  by  loving  and  giving  himself  could  made  a  John  the  Saintly  out 
of  a  son  of  thunder,  he  can  give  us  deep  spiritual  life  if  we  but  have  unswerv- 
ing, grateful  love  for  him. 

Mr.  W.  H.  McClain,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  was  to  have  conducted  a 
"  quiet  hour,"  but  he  was  absent,  and  the  time  was  filled  in  by  individ- 
ual extemporaneous  prayer.  A  feature  of  the  exercises  was  the  visit  of 
a  number  of  delegates  from  Michigan.  They  came  in  the  rain,  singing 
a  hymn. 

Hamline  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  singing  of  "  Praise  God,  from  Whom  All  Blessings  Flow,"  by 
the  choir  and  congregation,  standing,  opened  the  services  at  Hamline 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Nearly  every  seat  in  the  body  of  the 
church  was  occupied,  the  larger  part  of  the  congregation  being  visiting 
Endeavorers.  Each  wore  the  Convention  badge,  while  the  insignia  of 
the  different  States  were  also  very  much  in  evidence.  Earnestness  and 
fervor  marked  the  services  throughout,  the  continuous  and  general 
uttering  of  "  Amen  "  being  conspicuous  during  the  prayers  and 
addresses. 

Promptly  at  eight  o'clock  the  services  began  with  the  singing  men- 
tioned, and  at  its  conclusion  Rev.  W.  R.  Stricklen,  pastor  of  Hamline 
Church,  announced  ihat  Rev.  Chas.  Roads,  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  M.  E. 
Church,  Philadelphia,  would  conduct  the  opening  religious  exercises. 
Rev.  Mr.  Roads  called  for  the  hymn,  "  Come,  Thou  Almighty,  Kindly 
Help  Us  !  "  Next  he  invoked  divine  blessing,  after  which  "  Though 
Troubles  Assail,  Though  Dangers  Afifright,"  was  sung. 


FiftccntJi  Interjiational  Conveittion.  35 

Rev.  VV.  F.  Wilson,  of  Toronto,  Canada,  was  introduced  as  the  first 
speaker.  Rev.  Mr,  Wilson  is  a  man  of  striking  personality  and  effec- 
tive voice.  In  opening,  he  stated  that  he  came  from  the  protection  of 
another  flag  than  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  added,  "  You  Endeavorers 
of  Washington  have  taken  your  visitors  by  storm  with  your  kindness 
and  love." 

Address  of  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Wilson,  Toronto,  Canada. 

Assembled  here  with  one  accord, 

Calmly  we  wait  the  promised  grace, 
The  purchase  of  our  dying  Lord. 

Come,  Holy  Ghost,  and  fill  this  place  ! 

Meeting  within  the  confines  of  this  great  city  is  the  largest  religious  gather- 
ing ever  convened  on  this  continent. 

We  have  come  over  all  the  seas,  and  represent  nearly  every  color  and  tongue 
found  among  the  tribes  of  earth — and  why?  Not  for  mere  pleasure,  or  to  secure 
some  office,  neither  to  make  money  nor  win  applause;  and  yet,  we  have  a  spe- 
cific object  in  view,  having  one  volume  in  our  hand,  feeling  one  spirit  in  our 
heart,  and  inspired  with  an  overmastering  desire  to  know  more  of  Christ  and  be 
more  like  Christ,  that  we  may  do  more  for  Christ.  Is  this  our  desire?  It  is 
our  need. 

"  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Dove, 
With  all  thy  quickening  powers; 
Come,  shed  abroad  a  Saviour's  love, 
And  that  shall  kindle  ours  !  " 

This  subject  is  natural  to  Christians  for  discussion.  The  command  of 
Christ  to  his  new-born  church  was,  "Tarry  ye  in  Jerusalem  until  ye  be  endued 
with  power;"  and  you  remember  he  spent  his  last  hours  on  earth  in  talking 
with  men  whom  he  had  chosen,  taught,  and  inspired,  that  they  should  be  bap- 
tized with  the  Holy  Ghost,  transforming  them  into  torch-bearers  of  the  truth, 
and  enabling  them  to  witness  and  preach  with  such  divine  unction  that  thou- 
sands were  daily  added  to  the  followers  of  the  cross. 

Yes,  we  need  this  power  as  pastors  in  the  study  of  the  Word,  in  the  deepening 
of  our  spiritual  life,  and  in  the  proclamation  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ,  to  a  sin-smitten  world. 

We  need  this  power  as  teachers,  evangelists,  editors,  parents,  and  toilers  in 
every  sphere  of  Christian  work,  so  that  our  efforts  may  be  a  benediction  to  the 
physical,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  life  of  all  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 

I  know  the  church  is  splendidly  equipped  for  service.  She  has  magnificent 
machinery,  wrought  out  by  the  genius  of  Paul,  Calvin,  Luther,  Wesley,  Raikes, 
Booth,  Clark,  and  other  great  leaders  of  the  legions  of  Christ.  She  has  match- 
less scholars,  faultless  orators,  and  generous  supporters  on  every  hand.  Her 
opportunities  were  never  as  world-wide  as  they  are  to-day,  and  yet  she  is  not 
succeeding  as  she  ought;  ignorance,  superstition,  cruelty,  and  sin  still  hold  sway 
over  large  portions  of  this  Christ-redeemed  world — and  why?  Because  we,  as 
workers,  lack  that  power  that  made  Elijah,  Daniel,  Peter,  Knox,  Livingston, 
and  Spurgeon  irresistible  for  God. 

First,  no  national  distinctions  can  prevent  us  from  enjoying  the  fulness  and 
richness  there  is  in  Christ.  Paul  the  Hebrew,  Luther  the  German.  Duff  the 
Scotchman,  Father  Mathew  the  Irishman,  Carey  the  Englishman,  and  Summer- 
field  the  American,  all  enjoyed  this  priceless  power. 

Glorious  adaptation  —  every  life,  family,  tribe,  and  nation  on  this  planet  may 
rise  up  into  this  satisfying  experience  that  comes  through  fellowship  with  Christ. 

Second,  no  educational  distinctions  need  prevent  us  from  enjoying  this  bap- 
tism of  power.  The  religion  of  Christ  is  profound  enough  to  engage  the  thought 
of  a  Newton,  yet  simple  enough  for  the  little  child  who  whispers  out  its  trust  in 
Daniel  Webster's  prayer  :  — 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep; 
And  if  I  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take." 


36  Official  Report  of  the 

A  few  weeks  ago  Gladstone,  the  matchless  scholar,  statesman,  and  orator, 
bowed  with  his  gardener  at  the  same  altar,  and  drank  of  the  same  divine  stream, 
blending  their  voices  in  prayer  and  praise  to  the  glory  of  Him  who  came  and 
redeemed  their  souls. 

Third,  no  ecclesiastical  distinctions  can  keep  us  from  fellowship ;  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  man,  came  to  the  sons  of  men.  I  am  thankful  for  the  broad 
sympathetic  spirit  and  co-operation  of  all  the  churches  in  the  last  decade  of 
this  glorious  century,  but  I  am  looking  to  our  great  Christian  Endeavor  Society, 
under  the  direction  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  co-operating  with  the  other  young 
people's  societies  of  the  world,  to  bring  about  the  long-prayed-for  hour  when 
there  shall  be  in  spirit,  one  L,ord,  one  faith,  and  one  baptism.  How  is  this 
power  secured.''  Howls  any  power  secured.''  By  complying  with  the  condi- 
tions that  surround  it. 

Thus  the  scholar  enters  the  realm  of  literature,  holding  converse  with  the 
kings  and  queens  of  thought,  by  the  mastery  of  the  twenty-six  letters  of  the 
alphabet.  Thus  the  musician  enters  the  sphere  of  music  by  the  mastery  of 
the  seven  notes.  So  with  the  Christian,  acting  in  harmony  with  the  ci'nditions 
revealed  in  the  Word,  and  by  the  spirit  of  God  enjoys  that  blessed  slate  and 
experience  that  enables  him  to  say,  *'  I  live  not,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 

We  must  desire  this  power.  Our  Saviour  said,  "  Blessed  are  they  who  do 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled  :"'  and  thus  Paul 
exclaimed,  "  That  I  may  know  Him  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection!  "  We 
want  a  longing,  not  merely  to  have  love  for  God,  but  to  have  the  love  of  God 
shed  abroad  in  our  hearts.  Thus  wanted  the  apostles  at  Pentecost  and  found 
joy  in  the  consciousness  of  an  indwelling  Christ. 

A  young  man,  a  member  of  my  church,  who  wanted  this  power,  attended  the 
convention  in  Boston  last  year,  and  received  such  a  baptism  at  one  of  the  con- 
secration services  that  he  has  been  marvelously  used  of  God  during  the  year 
in  the  salvation  of  precious  souls.  So  it  is, —  obedience  and  prayer  will  secure 
this  blessing.  God's  plan  is  '"seek  and  ye  shall  find,  ask  and  ye  shall  receive, 
that  your  joy  may  be  full."  To  our  desire  we  must  add  capacity  to  receive  and 
determination  to  keep  this  heaven-given  gift. 

This  baptism  of  power  touches  our  faculties  and  swings  them  into  harmony 
with  (jod.  It  vitalizes  our  conscience,  bringing  conviction  of  sin ;  it  vitalizes 
our  will,  bringing  repentance  for  sin  ;  it  vitalizes  our  intellect,  producing  faith 
in  Christ  ;  and  vitalizes  our  affections,  causing  love,  joy,  and  peace  to  spring  up 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

This  power  must  be  continuously  used.  Oh,  what  unused  forces  and  latent 
energies  lie  dormant  in  the  Church  of  Christ !  Tongues  that  should  speak  are 
dumb,  hands  that  should  serve  are  closed,  hearts  that  should  love  are  cold,  and 
lives  that  should  shine  are  dimmed.  If  we  were  illumined  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
we  should  seethe  height  of  Christ  as  he  declares,  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up 
from  the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

We  should  see  the  depth  of  Christ  as  he  proclaims  the  sublime  truths  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  We  should  see  his  breadth  as,  with  world-wide  vision, 
he  exclaims,  "  Our  Father !  " 

We  should  see  his  length,  as  he  issues  his  final  marching  orders :  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  to  the  end." 

Yes,  we  should  use  this  power,  and  thus  help  to  bring  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  to  a  knowledge  of  our  God  and  of  his  Christ. 

Who  can  describe  the  blessing  and  benefits  conferred  by  this  power.?  It 
gives  us  a  testimony,  personal,  definite,  and  convincing,  so  that  with  Paul  we 
can  say,  "  We  know  whom  we  have  believed." 

Each  one  in  his  own  sphere  must  pay  his  own  tribute  to  Christ.  Elizabeth 
Fry  did  on  the  streets  of  London.  Jerry  McAuley  did  in  the  slums  of  New 
York.  Fanny  Crosby,  blind,  yet  patient,  writes  her  song  of  trust.  Bella  Cooke, 
afflicted  for  forty  years,  yet  patient,  thus  gives  her  testimony  to  the  sustaining 
grace  of  God. 


Fifteenth  International  Conventio7i.  37 

Oh  for  a  baptism  of  this  power,  this  abiding,  steadying,  satisfying  grace ! 
Jesus  can  give  it,  for  our  Captain  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost. 

As  Joseph  was  nerved  in  the  dungeon  of  Pharaoh,  and  Paul  was  strengthened 
in  Imperial  Rome,  so  shall  we  be  in  our  work  "For  Christ  and  the  Church,"  if 
our  faith  be  strong  in  the  blood,  principles,  plans,  and  promise  of  Christ. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Harsha,  D.D.,  of  New  York 

City. 

Address  of  the  Rev.  William  Justin  Harsha,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

I  have  been  thinking  much  of  one  of  the  pleas  God  makes  to  his  children, — 
a  plea  which  contains  an  actual  reprimand  and  an  implied  promise.  It  is 
recorded  by  Isaiah  in  his  forty-eighth  chapter,  at  the  eighteenth  verse:  "  Oh 
that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  my  commandments !  Then  had  thy  peace  been 
as  a  river."  The  best  way  I  know  of  to  deepen  the  spiritual  life  is  to  dredge 
the  river  bed  through  which  God  promises  to  set  aflow  the  full  and  satisfying 
currents  of  his  life  and  his  peace.  Exhaustive  expositions  of  Scripture,  theo- 
ries of  the  higher  life,  even  explanation  of  the  baptism,  enduement,  and  filling 
of  the  Spirit,  —  valuable  though  these  be,  —  will  not  accomplish  what  we  want 
so  long  as  we  leave  hidden  rocks  and  lurking  sand-bars  in  that  course  through 
which  the  river  yearns  to  run.  Let  us  look  at  this  promise  of  God  from  this 
standpoint,  and  may  the  Holy  Spirit  teach  us  what  we  must  get  out  of  the  way 
in  order  that  he  may  come  fully  in. 

There  are  three  important  words  which  we  should  consider  carefully. 

I.  Peace.  If  we  are  to  dredge  the  river,  we  must  get  out  of  the  way  at  once 
and  for  all  time  any  false  conceptions  about  peace  itself  which  we  have  been 
entertaining.  Nothing  stops  the  inflow  of  the  divine  life  more  effectually  than 
false  notions. 

There  are  some  young  people  who  think  that  peace  means  a  sort  of  Christian 
Nirvana,  a  state  of  abstraction,  absorption  in  the  Infinite,  or  self-surrender  to 
nothingness  in  general  and  nothing  in  particular.  It  means  to  them  cjuictness 
in  all  circumstances,  passivity  in  prayer-meeting,  and  a  superior  disdain  of 
sociables.  It  is  a  matter  of  light  on  the  cheeks  and  in  ihe  eyes.  It  is  "looking 
pleasant,"  as  the  photographer  tells  one  to  do  at  the  supreme  moment  when  the 
bulb  of  the  camera  is  to  be  squeezed. 

One  must  cultivate  this  by  long  thought.  One  must  go  and  sit  under  an 
imaginary  Bo-tree  and  stare  continuously  at  one  object.  It  is  a  sort  of  semi- 
consciousness of  external  things  which  enables  one  to  bear  the  trials  of  life, — 
to  be  a  "fakir"  in  society  and  business.  It  is  best  and  purest  when  it  gives  a 
rather  egotistical  cast  to  the  countenance.  Thus  some  think,  and  it  is  no  won- 
der that  they  fall  into  despondency  after  a  time.  They  come  to  suppose  that 
Christian  peace  has  to  do  with  old  age;  it  is  associated  with  grandma's  lace 
cap  or  grandpa's  spectacles.  Young  people  should  not  expect  it, —  they  have 
not  been  under  the  Bo-tree  long  enough. 

All  this  is  a  grave  mistake.  We  live  in  a  practical  age  and  the  promises  of 
God  apply  to  practical  people.  If  the  divine  peace  is  not  for  young  people 
with  much  upon  their  hands  and  hearts,  God's  Word  has  no  meaning.  A  great 
deal  of  practical  business  is  to  come  before  this  Convention.  We  are  to  discuss 
Christian  citizenship  in  all  its  multiform  and  important  bearings.  We  are  to 
consider  the  best  methods  of  evangelism  at  home  and  abroad,  and  absorb  in- 
spiration for  an  active  participation  in  it.  The  purification  of  municipal  life 
and  city  politics,  the  furthering  of  temperance  reform  and  Sabbath  observance, 
are  to  be  presented  by  specialists  in  the  several  departments,  and  we  are  to  be 
surcharged  with  energy  to  assist  in  all  branches  of  the  great  work.  Well,  then, 
if  peace  consist  in  mere  self-abnegation  and  abstraction  to  external  forces,  it 
has  no  place  in  our  programme.  It  is  out  of  its  proper  environment  in  these 
stirring  times.  This  conception  of  it  is  clearly  erroneous.  Peace  is  consistent 
and  co-pxistent  with  the  intensest  activity.  A  river  may  run  through  the  busiest 
cities  without  losing  its  deep  steadiness  and  gentle  murmur.     Our  Lord  Jesus 


38  Official  Report  of  the 

was  called  "  the  Prince  of  peace  "  (Isa.  ix.  6),  and  yet  he  was  the  most  practical 
of  workers. 

A  life  of  active  philanthropy  may  give  joy  to  the  heart  and  cause  a  certain 
quiet  satisfaction  to  descend  upon  the  soul,  but  this  may  not  be  genuine  peace. 
Faithfulness  at  the  services  of  the  church  and  attendance  upon  Christian 
Endeavor  gatherings  tend  to  produce  peace,  but  in  themselves  they  are  not  of 
its  real  essence.  Conventions  such  as  this  inaugurated  to-night  conduce  to  the 
desired  end;  but  we  should  never  confuse  the  means  with  the  end.  Let  us 
never  forget  that  peace  is  the  gift  of  the  risen  Christ.  "  My  peace  I  give  unto 
you." 

The  saintly  Dr.  Watts  said,  in  his  old  age,  "  I  thank  God  that  I  can  lie  down 
with  comfort  at  night,  not  being  solicitous  whether  I  wake  in  this  world  or  in 
another.'"  Dr.  James  Hamilton  wrote,  ''  Peace  is  love  reposing.  It  is  love  on 
the  green  pastures;  it  is  love  beside  the  still  waters.  It  is  that  great  calm 
which  comes  over  the  conscience  when  it  sees  the  atonement  sutificient  and  the 
Saviour  willing.  It  is  the  soul  which  Christ  has  pacified  spread  out  in  serenity 
and  simple  faith,  and  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  smiling  over  it." 

Yes,  this  is  true  peace. 

2.  River.  This  is  the  second  word  in  God's  sweet  promise  which  we  need  to 
consider  carefully.  What  a  beautiful  figure  does  the  word  present  to  our  imag- 
inations !  "  I^eace  as  a  river."  Among  the  quieter  objects  of  nature  none  is 
more  suggestive  of  God's  power  and  wisdom,  of  God's  loving  presence  in  the 
world  which  he  has  made,  than  the  river  which  winds  in  and  out  among  the 
hills,  steals  quietly  through  clattering  towns,  kisses  fields  and  pastures  into 
fruitfulness  and  verdure,  and  smilingly  bares  its  breast  to  be  scarred  by  the 
countless  keels  of  the  world's  commerce.  Hence  the  figure  of  the  text  gives  us 
at  once  an  idea  of  what  peace  is  and  what  it  does.  It  is  the  inflow  of  the 
divine  life,  bringing  the  divine  quietness,  patience,  and  power,  and  resulting  in 
spiritual  beauty  and  faithfulness.  Straight  into,  and  straight  through,  the  heart 
and  life  the  river  runs.  Men  come  and  go,  but  God's  peace  Hows  on  forever. 
It  is  not  compared  to  a  stagnant  pool,  for  peace  is  not  mere  quietness  and 
abstraction,  as  we  have  seen.  It  is  not  likened  to  a  clear  lake,  nor  a  deep  reser- 
voir enclosed  in  the  distant  hills,  shut  off  from  the  homes  and  haunts  of  men; 
for  peace  is  not  mere  intellectual  elevation  and  absence  from  the  distressing 
cares  of  life.  It  is  not  compared  to  the  mighty  sea,  which  sometimes  sleeps 
and  seems  to  afford  a  figure  of  depth  and  calm.  The  sea  is  treacherous  and 
unstable.  If  for  a  day  or  a  week  it  sleep  and  smile,  it  is  at  other  times  tossed  by 
the  hurricane  and  driven  in  fury  upon  the  snarling  rocks  which  line  its  shores. 
"The  wicked 2LV&  like  the  troubled  sea  when  it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  cast 
up  mire  and  dirt."  But  "peace  is  like  a  river  "  in  the  hearts  of  those  who 
receive  its  gentle,  cooling,  constant,  unruffled  waters.  We  have,  hence,  but  to 
apply  our  ideas  of  a  river  to  peace  to  discover  the  practical  lessons  we  need  to 
learn. 

A  proper  river  grows  broader  and  deeper  as  it  progresses  toward  the  sea. 
One  of  the  Hebrew  words  translated  "  river"  in  the  Bible  means  literally  "a 
strong  place,"  indicating  the  mighty  power  of  its  current  and  its  ever-increas- 
ing depth. 

It  tends  by  its  very  onflow  to  wear  a  more  ample  channel  for  itself.  God's 
promise  has  in  it,  therefore,  a  thought  of  progressional  expansion.  Our  peace 
shall  grow  broader  and  deeper  as  we  go  on  in  the  Christian  life.  "  Behold,  I 
will  tuYt'w^/ peace  to  her  like  a  river,  and  like  ?l  flowing  stream."  (Isa.  Ixvi.  12.) 
A  stream  that  truly  flows  becomes  stronger  and  sweeter  as  it  goes.  Our  peace 
should  not  be  like  the  Humboldt  River,  that  loses  itself  in  the  alkali  marshesof 
the  sink,  or  like  the  Rhine,  which,  after  sweeping  between  hills  crowned  with 
lordly  ruins,  finally  grows  languid  and  sluggish  in  the  ditches  of  Holland;  or  like 
the  Sabbatic  River  of  South  Palestine,  which  runs  certain  days  of  the  week 
and  rests  on  others.  Nay,  let  our  peace  be  like  the  noble  Thames,  or  the 
mighty  Mississippi,  which  run  on  with  increasing  power  and  weight.  Let  our 
path  be  like  that  of  the  just,  which  is  comparable  to  the  shining  light  of  the 
morning,  "  which  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day,"  the  meridian 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  39 

splendour  of  noon.  Let  the  inflow  of  the  divine  life  be  like  the  river  which 
Ezekiel  saw, —  at  first,  possibly,  reaching  only  to  the  ankles,  but  growing  until 
it  comes  to  the  knees  ;  growing  still  until  it  reaches  the  loins  and  "  afterward  " 
becoming  "  waters  to  swim  in,  a  river  that  could  not  be  passed  over !  "  (Ezek. 
xlvii.  5.)  Oh  that  our  spiritual  life  may  be  deepened  after  this  fashion! 
Such  "quietness  and  assurance"  are  far  better  than  mere  clattering  joy,  mere 
sparkling  hilarity,  mere  effervescing  enthusiasm  and  "  feeling."  The  foam- 
touched  ripples  of  a  mountain  stream  may  be  beautiful  to  look  at ;  but  what  the 
thirsty  country  needs  is  the  deep,  still  torrent  of  the  great  river.  This  is  also 
what  our  hearts  need.  There  may  be  sorrows  and  trials,  "nevertheless  after- 
ward "  there  flows  into  us  the  river  that  '•  has  risen,"  and  there  grow  beside  us 
the  '"peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness." 

Some  of  you  came  from  the  banks  of  the  Missouri  or  other  western  rivers, 
and  you  have  seen,  as  I  have,  the  extensive  works  called  "  riprapping  "  carried 
on  by  the  government,  or  by  private  corporations,  to  prevent  the  waters  eating 
away  the  banks  and  inundating  the  fields.  There  have  been  heavy  rains  in  the 
mountains,  or  the  snows  have  suddenly  melted  and  a  mighty  freshet  comes 
tearing  down  the  stream.  The  soil  composing  the  banks  is  loose  and  loamy,  and 
some  protection  must  be  afforded  where  the  bends  occur  and  the  cities  are  built. 

Then  the  men  set  to  work,  and  great  nets  of  boughs  and  branches  of  trees 
are  built,  and  these  are  made  stable  Ijy  rocks  and  bags  of  sand,  and  so  the  "rip- 
rap "  is  formed  and  the  waters  are  kept  in  their  course. 

I  hope  you  will  not  think  me  unduly  fanciful  if  I  use  this  as  an  illustration 
of  what  needs  to  be  done  in  the  spiritual  life.  We  are  constantly  in  danger  of 
losing  spiritual  power  through  the  broadening  of  our  energies  and  the  dissipa- 
tion of  our  forces.  A  proper  overflow  of  blessing  to  others  is  necessary,  as  I 
have  said  ;  yet  the  river  is  not  to  run  entirely  out  of  its  channel  and  waste  itself 
fruitlessly,  and  even  harmfully.  The  love  of  Christ  is  to  "  constrain  "  us  —  keep 
us  within  limits.  Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  being  "  narrow  "  in  this  sense.  A 
river  is  powerful  only  when  properly  narrow, —otherwise  it  becomes  a  bog  and 
a  stench.  Let  us  learn  to  apply  spiritual  power  upon  the  places  where  it  is 
needed.  Surrender  to  God's  will  is  the  key-thought  just  here.  One  of  the 
subtle  ways  in  which  our  peace  is  destroyed  is  through  fretting  anxiety  to  do 
more  than  God  wants  us  to  do.  "Thou  art  careful  and  troubled  about  many 
things."  Keep  in  the  channel  of  the  Father's  will.  Live  in  such  close  touch 
with  him  through  the  Spirit  that  you  will  know  when  to  be  idle  for  his  sake. 
Sometimes  we  attempt  too  much.     Sometimes  we  need  to  sit  with  folded  hands. 

Those  who  dwell  near  sandy  rivers  or  near  harbors  formed  by  river-mouths 
know  what  an  amount  of  careful  piering  and  dredging  is  necessary  to  keep  the 
channel  clear. 

Let  us  learn  a  lesson  from  the  pains  taken  by  the  engineers.  If  we  find  a 
place  in  our  spiritual  life  where  sudden  bars  are  apt  to  form,  disturbing  or 
retarding  the  flow  of  peace,  let  us  at  once  protect  the  spot  by  special  prayer. 
This  is  the  key-thought  here.  Piers  of  prayer  in  all  eddies  and  places  of  dan- 
ger!_  There  is  nothing  like  prayer  to  keep  the  channels  clear  and  the  river 
flowing.  Stated  prayer,  family  prayer,  closet  prayer,  ejaculatory  prayer,  are  all 
availing.  I  like  the  thought  of  ejaculatory  prayer,  especially  prayer  that  is  like 
the.  jaczilum,  or  "dart,"  which  the  warrior  sends  flying  from  the  string  in  sudden 
danger  and  is  able  to  watch  until  it  reaches  the  mark.  Oh  that  we  may  culti- 
vate constant  communion  with  God  through  Christ  in  the  Spirit,  and  then  shall 
our  peace  be  deep  and  calm  and  strong  —  like  a  river  unobstructed  in  all  its 
course  ! 

The  "  quiet  hour  "  was  an  impressive  service  conducted  by  Rev, 
Chas.  Roads,  of  Philadelphia. 

rietropolitan  African  M.  E.  Church. 

The  Metropolitan  A.  M.  E.  Church  was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most 
interesting  services  held  by  the  Christian  Endeavorers.     There  was  a 


40  Official  Report  of  the 

large  attendance  in  the  handsome  edifice,  which  was  most  tastefully 
decorated  with  bunting  and  American  flags,  this  work  having  been 
designed  by  Miss  Jennie  Al.  Spears,  president  of  the  society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  of  the  church,  and  executed  by  her  associates. 

On  the  platform  were  the  following  distinguished  clergymen  :  Bishop 
W.  J.  Gaines,  D.D.,  Bishop  W.  B.  Derrick,  D.D.,  Bishop  J.  H.  Arm- 
strong, Rev.  Dr.  H.  T.  Johnson,  Rev.  Dr.  L.  J.  Coppin,  Rev.  D.  W. 
Jones,  Rev.  E.  G.  Hubert,  Rev.  William  Rader,  Rev.  T.  G.  Langdale, 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  T.  Jennefer,  Rev.  W.  R.  Arnold,  Rev.  M.  C.  Brooks,  Rev. 
Mr.  Edwards,  Rev.  Mr.  Jenkins,  Rev.  Mr.  Tyce,  Rev.  Dr.  Beckett,  and 
Rev.  James  Allan  Johnson,  pastor  of  the  church. 

The  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  Bishop  Gaines,  and  by  sing- 
ing by  the  choir  of  125  voices,  under  the  leadership  of  Prof.  J.  T.  Lay- 
ton,  chorister  of  the  church.  The  feature  of  the  musical  programme  was 
a  solo,''  God  Is  Love,"  by  Miss  Helen  Adams.  Bishop  Wm.  B.  Der- 
rick, of  New  York,  delivered  a  stirring  address. 

Address  of  Bishop  William  Benjamin  Derrick,  D.D. 

Life  may  be  defined  as  follows:  animation,  vivacity,  briskness,  vigor, 
energy,  spirit. 

In  this  paper  we  will  speak  of  life  from  a  spiritual  standpoint,  as  the  object 
of  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  is  to  infuse  a  deeper  spirituality  throughout 
Christendom. 

As  the  believer  sinks  into  spiritual  life  he  becomes  more  and  more  dissatis- 
fied with  self;  his  hunger  and  thirst  increase  and  become  eager  for  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ,  and,  with  increased  desire,  for  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word. 
As  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  when  people  are  hungry  they  will  find  time  for 
their  meals,  and  a  good  appetite  does  not  think  three  meals  a  day  too  much,  so 
with  the  believer, — as  he  grows  deeper  into  spiritual  life,  he  is  not  satisfied  with 
one  spiritual  meal  a  day.  No,  but,  like  Daniel,  he  sits  three  times  a  day  with  his 
window  open  toward  Jerusalem,  feasting  on  the  spiritual  manna,  in  the  mean- 
time exclaiming,  "  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall  not  want  .... 
He  prepareth  a  table  for  me  in  the  midst  of  my  enemies.  My  cup  runneth 
over." 

As  he  goes  to  this  spiritual  feast  he  does  not  forget  to  pray  all  the  way,  and 
to  feed  his  soul  on  the  hope  of  hearing  some  good  news  from  heaven  and  from 
Jesus,  the  faithful,  loving  friend  whom  he  has  there.  His  light  is  attended 
with  the  warmth  of  love,  and  is  not  satisfied  simply  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
way  to  heaven,  but  he  walks  constantly  therein  with  joy  and  gladness,  regard- 
less of  the  storms  and  hurricanes  which  confront  the  believer  on  his  passage  to 
the  skies. 

Again,  as  the  life  deepens  and  expands  in  the  spiritual  atmosphere,  it 
becomes  more  acquainted  with  the  way  to  obtain  the  precious  love,  —  to  con- 
sider the  free  mercy  of  God,  and  to  believe  implicitly  in  the  pardoning  love  of 
Jesus,  who  died,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  to  bring  us  unto  God.  "  For  we  all 
with  open  face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord  are  changed  into 
the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord."  (2  Cor.  iii.  18.) 
He  is  f requentlv,  yes,  constantly,  supplicating  at  the  Throne  of  Grace  ;  applying 
his  faith  with  all  the  attention  of  his  mind  and  all  the  fervor  of  his  heart; 
exclaiming-,  "  I  know  in  whom  I  believe,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that^which  I  have  committed  against  that  day ;  "  and  positively  setting  his 
affection  on  Christ,  whom  he  cannot  see,  and  for  his  sake  upon  fellow-believers, 
whom  he  does  see;  always  devoting  much  time  to  private  meditation, — for 
himself  and  others, —  thus  holding  unbroken  communion  with  God  and  absent 
members  of  the  mystic  body  of  Christ.    By  this  he  gathers  strength,  which 


Fifteenth  International  Convejition.  41 

affords  him  powerful  resistance,  so  when  tempted  he  yields  not  to  the  tempta- 
tion, but  continues  his  pleadings  for  consolation  in  Christ,  comfort  of  love, 
bowels  of  mercy,  and  for  complete  fulfilment  of  the  joy  as  is  promised  in  the 
Word  of  Divine  Truth,  that  believers  may  become  more  and  more  like  unto  his 
Lord  and  Master,  having  the  same  love,  being  of  one  accord  and  of  one  mind 
—  discarding  anything  which  is  done  through  strife  and  vainglory,  but  accept- 
ing all  that  is  done  in  lowliness  of  mind  and  sincerity  of  heart. 

Such  a  state  of  mind  and  heart  is  the  strongest  evidence  of  a  genuine 
spirituality,  which  causes  its  possessor  to  exclaim,  "  May  the  eyes  of  my  under- 
standing be  opened  to  behold  the  beauties  of  thy  law  and  the  suitableness,  free- 
ness,  and  fulness  of  the  redemption  which  was  bought  not  with  corruptible 
things,  such  as  silver  and  gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  which  is 
applied  by  the  Spirit  through  faith." 

As  the  believer  contemplates,  his  soul  glows  with  joy  and  gladness,  becoming 
more  ardent  and  burning  and  powerful,  until  it  brings  him  on  his  knees,  and  in 
that  supplicating  posture  he  pours  out  his  soul: — 

"  Let  me  love  thee  more  and  more 
'1  ill  this  fleeting  life  is  o'er, 
Till  my  soul  is  Tost  in  love 
In  that  brighter  world  above." 

To  grow  deeper  in  spiritual  life  we  would  suggest  the  following  rules  of 
conduct : — 

{a).     Heartily  repent  of  our  sins,  original  and  actual. 

ip).     Believe  the  Gospel  of  Christ  in  sincerity  and  truth. 

{c).  In  the  power  which  true  faith  gives, —  for  all  things  commanded  are 
possible  to  him  that  believeth, — walking  with  humble  confidence  the  way  of 
God's  commandments  before  God  and  man. 

{d).  By  continuing  to  take  up  the  cross  and  to  receive  the  pure  milk  of 
God's  Word,  growing  in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 

These  simple  rules  will  lead  the  believer  in  the  path  and  cause  him  to  grow 
in  peace  and  joy  all  the  days  of  his  life;  and  when  rolling  years  shall  be  lost  in 
eternity,  he  will  continue  to  grow  in  bliss  and  heavenly  glory.  The  Lord  will 
be  his  sun,  and  his  crown,  and  he  shall  be  forever  with  the  Lord,  where  the 
perfection  of  spiritual  life  is  attained;  where  the  fulness  and  grandeur  of  the 
King  of  kings  will  burst  on  our  vision,  and  the  bliss  of  the  redeemed  shall  be 
realized,  and  we  shall  join  in  the  saints'  triumphant  song,  "  Hallelujah,  for  the 
Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth,"  in  that  land  where  the  mansions  are  tinged 
with  the  electric  light  of  immortality  and  are  bathed  in  endless  sunshine 
throughout  the  realm  of  eternal  morning. 

Angels  and  redeemed  spirits  are  its  citizens,  whose  lot  is  neither  poverty,  nor 
riches,  but  one  of  joy,  happiness,  and  calm  repose,  innocent  and  tractable, 
bearing  in  their  hands  palm  branches,  symbols  of  their  wondrous  victory  ;  and 
who  are  living  with  God  in  the  heaven  of  heavens,  and  shall  continue  through- 
out the  endless  ages  of  eternity  with  no  bar  of  sickness,  no  distance  of  time  or 
place,  no  gulf  of  death  or  the  grave,  to  part  us  more.  We  shall  meet  in  the 
bosom  of  Jesus,  the  fountain  and  author  of  divine  love.  Oh  that  blessed  "  meet- 
ing "  which  shall  put  us  "  beyond  the  smiling  and  the  weeping  !  " 

Oh  that  blessed  meeting,  which  shall  end  the  "meeting  and  the  parting," 
where  we  shall  behold  the  Sun  of  righteousness  without  a  cloud,  and  forever 
bask  in  the  beams  of  his  glory.  Is  not  this  a  glorious  prospect.''  One  which 
is  enough  to  incite  us  to  grow  daily  deeper  and  deeper  into  spiritual  life  until 
the  poet's  dream  be  realized  in  us  : — 

"  Consecrate  me  now  to  thy  service,  Lord, 
By  the  power  of  grace  divine; 
Let  my  soul  look  up  with  a  steadfast  hope. 
And  my  will  be  lost  in  thine.'' 

Thus  bidding  defiance  to  sin  and  the  grave,  we  join  the  cry  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  Bride,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 

The  next  speaker  was  heartily  received. 


42  Official  Report  of  the 

Address  of  Rev.  Wm.  Rader,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

According  to  Paul,  man  is  a  trinity,  composed  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  The 
body  is  the  physical  house ;  the  soul,  the  seat  and  source  of  life,  the  animating 
principle  of  the  physical  organism  ;  the  spirit,  that  restless  something  which 
laughs  and  cries,  which  throbs  with  emotion,  worships  God,  and,  facing  eter- 
nity, refuses  to  die  forever. 

It  is  this  spirit  that  paints  pictures,  and  writes  the  lasting  literature  of  the 
world.  Never  satisfied,  it  is  forever  reaching  out  after  more  life  and  love.  It  is 
the  development  of  this  spiritual  nature  of  which  I  speak.  The  average  man 
is  higher  than  he  is  deep;  he  is  more  parapet  than  foundation,  more  dome  than 
corner-stone.  Height  is  more  popular  because  more  conspicuous  than  depth. 
By  depth  is  meant  the  moral  resources  of  our  nature,  the  reserved  force  of 
character,  that  latent  and  unseen  capital  which  lies  hidden  in  the  personality. 
Depth  is  character.  Character  is  not  intention.  If  it  were,  then  the  world 
would  be  full  of  angels.  Character  is  not  motive.  Motive  is  character  in  the 
wheat,  character  is  motive  in  the  flour. 

A  man  is  manly  in  the  degree  that  he  is  able  to  translate  intention  into  life. 
Character  is  related  to  motive  as  the  sea  is  related  to  the  wave.  The  wave  is 
powerful,  because  it  is  reinforced  by  the  strength  of  the  ocean,  and  it  is  able 
to  beat  down  the  crag  along  the  coast,  because  the  pulse  of  the  sea  beats  in  its 
surf. 

The  depth  of  the  man  spiritually  includes  all  his  available  manhood  ;  it  em- 
braces all  that  is  potentially  good  within  him,  all  that  reserved  force  which  is 
latent  in  his  moral  nature. 

It  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  ourselves  to  make  the  most  of  our  spiritual  nature. 
Few  people  are  as  good  as  they  might  be.  There  are  few  perfect  bodies,  and 
there  are  fewer  perfect  minds,  but  people  neglect  the  development  and  enrich- 
ment of  their  spiritual  nature  far  more  than  their  physical  or  mental  faculties. 
Self-development  is  personal  responsibility.  Laziness  is  as  bad  as  dissipation. 
The  man  who  refuses  to  cultivate  his  best  nature  is  as  great  a  criminal  before 
God  as  he  who  wastes  his  force  and  dissipates  his  strength.  Indifference  is  as 
bad  as  intemperance.  If  we  have  a  party  for  Prohibition  we  should  also  have 
a  party  for  Stimulation.  The  spiritual  nature  may  be  deepened  by  our  own 
hand.  This  is  a  solemn  and  responsible  task,  which  faces  every  human  being. 
For  the  most  part  we  are  responsible  for  the  depth  and  richness  of  our  own 
spirituality. 

Circumstances  deepen  life;  sorrow  stirs  and  awakens  the  soul.  It  some- 
times disturbs  nature,  as  dynamite  moves  the  solid  rock.  "  Sorrow  is  bread, 
and  tears  are  medicine."  The  great  grief  mellows  us  and  drives  us  nearer  God. 
There  are  flowers  that  must  be  crushed  before  they  expend  their  fragrance. 

John  Milton  wrote  his  grandest  words  when  God  curtained  his  eyes.  Dante 
in  the  solemn  splendor  of  his  grief  became  a  genius.  John  Bunyan  became 
great  in  the  shadows  of  Bedford  jail.  Tennyson  constructed  that  marvelous 
tribute  more  lasting  and  magnificent  than  any  material  monument,  "In  Mem- 
oriam,"  because  his  college  friend  liad  passed  away  suddenly  into  the  world 
beyond.  When  Jennie  Lind  sang  in  Castle  Garden,  N.Y.,  Goldschmidt,  hearing 
her  wondrous  voice,  remarked,  "  If  I  could  marry  that  woman  and  break  her 
heart,  she  would  sing  like  a  nightingale."  He  did  marry  her,  he  did  break  her 
heart,  and  the  voice  of  the  English  Nightingale  will  never  die. 

Joy  deepens  the  spiritual  life.  We  must  not  suppose  that  people  who  are 
sad  are  necessarily  good,  and  that  because  one  has  been  profoundly  moved  by 
a  great  sorrow,  his  spiritual  nature  is  deepened.  A  great  joy  sometimes  lifts 
the  soul  to  the  very  throne  of  God. 

There  are  people,  and  they  are  many,  who  never  know  the  inspiration  of 
real  happiness.  They  pass  through  the  world  and  never  feel  the  soft  and  in- 
spiring touch  of  a  great  joy.  Their  best  nature  is  never  found  ;  it  never  will  be 
found  except  by  a  great  happiness.  There  is  nothing  so  orthodox  as  laughter; 
there  is  nothing  so  deepening  and  enriching  as  a  stainless  pleasure.  If  sorrow 
may  be  likened  to  dynamite,  then  joy  may  be  described  by  the  delicate  but 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  43 

powerful  strength  of  a  sunbeam.  Yonder  on  the  mountains  the  sun  is  melting 
the  snows,  which  form  themselves  in  refreshing  streams,  move  on  to  the  valley 
with  health  and  vigor,  giving  life,  which  is  the  sunbeam  striking  down  deep 
into  the  heart  of  the  snows. 

To  be  spiritual  is  to  be  natural.  Do  not  suppose  that  spirituality  means  a 
certain  tone  of  voice  or  cast  of  countenance  or  attitude  of  worship.  The 
spiritual  is  always  natural,  always  rational,  and  everywhere  at  ease.  Don't  per- 
mit your  religious  life  to  make  you  awkward,  morally  awkward;  be  yourself, 
and  if  you  are  not  like  other  people,  if  you  are  sincere  and  honest  you  will 
express  the  most  attractive  type  of  real  spirituality. 

Science  asks,  "  Whence  came  the  spiritual  in  man?  "  The  story  of  its  birth 
has  never  been  told.  The  wisdom  of  the  world  stands  mute  before  the  mystery 
of  this  fact,  as  children  on  the  shore  watch  the  ship  emerge  from  the  dense  fog, 
and,  passing  in  magnificent  action  before  them,  they  see  it  disappear  again  in 
the  fog-bank  beyond.  Thus  evolution  and  eschatology  alike  are  shrouded  in 
mist,  and  the  honest  thinker  must  stand  Ijefore  these  phenomena  in  the  agnos- 
ticism of  Paul,  and  say,  "  Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  then  face  to 
face;  now  we  know  in  part,  but  then  we  shall  know  even  as  we  are  known." 
One  thing  we  know, —  that  the  spiritual  within  us  is  to  live  forever.  How 
majestic  that  thought!  Webster  said  it  was  the  greatest  thought  which 
entered  the  portals  of  his  brain.  We  are  to  live  again  !  "  Now  are  we  the  sons 
of  God,  but  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be."  When  all  things  are 
destroyed,  when  the  moon  is  blood,  and  the  earth  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat, 
the  spirit,  that  passionate  and  immortal  self,  shall  stand  on  the  summit  of  the 
destroyed  years  and  reach  out  for  the  living  God.  Our  duty  is  to  yield  it  up 
blameless,  and  not  our  spirits  only,  but  our  bodies  and  souls  lilameless  to  the 
God  who  gave  it,  for  the  eternal  life  is  but  the  mortal  life,  writ  in  larger  type. 

The  "quiet  hour"  was  introduced  by  the  solo,  "Calvary,"  after 
which  Rev.  T.  G.  Langdale,  of  South  Dakota,  using  the  words  of  Luke 
viii.  1 8,  "  Take  heed  how  ye  hear,"  called  the  attention  of  the  En- 
deavorers  to  the  need  of  approaching  the  meetings  of  the  Convention 
with  the  distinct  purpose  in  mind  of  deepening  their  own  and  others' 
spiritual  lives  —  in  order  to  hear  in  the  right  way  the  things  that  God 
has  for  them. 

After  singing  a  verse  of  "  Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee,"  the  benediction 
was  pronounced  by  Bishop  Arnett. 

John  Wesley  African  fl.  E.  Zion  Church. 

There  were  three  speakers  at  the  John  Wesley  African  M.  E.  Zion 
Church,  where  a  good-sized  audience  assembled  in  spite  of  the  rain. 
In  the  absence  of  the  pastor.  Dr.  R.  A.  Fisher,  Rev.  J.  B.  Colbert 
presided.  The  service  was  opened  by  singing  "Onward,  Christian 
Soldiers,"  which  was  followed  with  a  Scripture  reading  by  Rev.  J.  E. 
Mason,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  prayer  by  Rev.  P.  P.  Watson,  of 
Beaufort,  S.  C.  Mr.  W.  H.  Strong,  of  Detroit,  president  of  the  Mich- 
igan State  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  was  the  first  speaker. 

Address  of  Mr.  W.  H.  Strong,  Detroit,  Mich. 

The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal.  The  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal. 

Nearly  two  thousand  years  ago,  in  Corinth,  the  beautiful  metropolis  of  south- 
ern Greece,  was  a  church  in  the  midst  of  the  city.  Not  only  was  the  city  fair  to 
look  upon,  but  full  of  the  bustle  of  business,  the  excitement  of  pleasure,  the 
cankerous  wickedness  of    self-seeking  wealth.     It  was  a  spiritually  minded 


44  Official  Report  of  the 

church,  full  of  thoughts  pointing  to  heaven  and  of  temptations  luring  toward 
hell.  To  this  church  Paul  wrote  at  least  two  letters,  and  in  the  second  he  said 
that  the  real  things  are  the  inside  things,  and  that  outward  show,  whether  it  be 
in  church  life,  in  business,  or  in  society,  is  passing  and  temporary.  History 
and  daily  life  alike  voice  the  same  eternal  antagonism.  Thirty  and  five  year's 
ago  our  ears  were  deafened  with  the  roar  of  war;  the  factors  seemed  to  be 
men,  money,  and  muskets;  it  seemed  as  if  old  John  Brown  had  gone  defeated 
to  his  grave,  but  the  end  was  not  so  wrought  out.  What  kept  the  nation 
together.?  Not  facts,  but  faith.  Not  arithmetic,  but  the  Bible.  Not  prefer- 
ence, nor  prejudice,  but  an  abiding  sense  that  right  was  right,  since  God  was 
God;  and  all  the  past  tells  the  same  story,  —  that  fact  is  always  the  coward, 
faith  has  always  won  the  day. 

I  would  turn  aside  a  moment  for  just  a  word  of  caution.  We  are  tempted 
to  think  of  the  unseen  as  something  awful  and  uncanny;  ghost  stories  have 
frightened  us  ;  the  very  term  "  Holy  Ghost "  is  misleading  to  many  minds. 
Spirituality  is  not  spiritualism.  Religion  has  been  fringed  with  superstition, 
but  that  type  of  spiritualism  which  conceives  spirits  in  the  heavenly  land  as 
turning  tables  or  thumping  doors  to  surprise  an  audience  is  sometimes  enter- 
taining, but  never  helpful. 

The  spiritual  life  is  the  real  life.  Spirituality  is  not  a  place,  but  an  attitude. 
Spirituality  is  never  selfishness. 

There  is  a  battle  of  the  standards  not  only  in  finance,  but  in  the  soul  of  every 
man.  So  was  it  in  Corinth  ;  so  it  is  to-day.  Flesh  and  spirit,  self-indulgence 
and  self-sacrifice.  An  act  may  be  spiritual.  Spirituality  looks  up  and  out;  it 
looks  up  to  God  and  out  for  men.  Spirituality  is  not  simply  religious  medita- 
tion; it  is  not  the  babbling  brook  of  psalm  and  hymn  singing  ;  it  is  not  like  a 
pond  in  a  park,  made  to  look  at,  but  it  is  a  great  living  current,  directing  us 
ever  forward.  I  would  repeat,  spirituality  is  self-surrender.  How  are  we  to 
deepen  it?  As  Jesus  deepened  the  spiritual  life  of  the  woman  at  Jacob's  well, — 
first,  by  removing  our  prejudice  and  having  our  eyes  open  to  see  the  truth; 
second,  by  lifting  up  our  ideals  of  life  and  finding  that  sin  and  not  the  weight 
of  the  bucket  is  the  heaviest  load. 

We  deepen  water  in  a  stream  by  dredging  it  out,  digging  away  the  dirt,  stone, 
or  sand-bar.  We  narrow  the  channel  to  give  strength  to  the  current.  We 
mark  the  channel  with  stakes  and  buoys,  and  obey  them.  We  build  dams  to 
stop  the  waste  of  worldliness,  the  draining-away  of  force.  We  want  depth  in 
the  river  and  "everything  shall  live  whither  the  river  cometh."  Whatever  the 
sphere  in  which  we  work,  wherever  the  home  in  which  we  live,  whatever  the 
end  we  seek  in  our  lives,  all  shall  live  if  the  river  of  life  is  in  our  hearts,  —  a 
deep,  strong,  mighty,  overflowing  current,  bearing  the  world's  burdens  and  ours 
to  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  God. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Mason,  D.D.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  E.  Mason,  D.D.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

We  are  exhorted  by  the  Scriptures  to  set  our  affections  on  things  above  and 
not  on  things  on  earth  ;  to  lay  up  for  ourselves  treasures  in  heaven.  Of  these 
things  we  acknowledge  the  truth,  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  many  go  further,  or 
at  most  resolve  within  themselves  that  they  will  become  spiritual-minded  when 
this  world  and  its  concerns  are  fading  from  their  view  and  the  next  is  opening 
upon  them.  I  would  describe  spiritual-mindedness  as  consisting  in  a  following 
of  God's  will  instead  of  our  own;  as  a  subjection  of  the  body  to  the  spirit,  a 
deliberate  seeking  after  things  eternal  instead  of  things  temporal,  and  this 
under  all  circumstances  of  our  dailv  life.  He  who  intends  deepening  his  spir- 
itual life  will  be  a  man  of  praver,  for  prayer  alone  can  fix  his  thoughts  on  the 
world  unseen.  He  will  live  in  habits  of  self-denial,  for  not  otherwise  will  he 
gain  the  mastery  over  those  fleshly  lusts  and  appetites  which  war  against  the 
soul.  He  will  cultivate  a  spirit  of  awe  and  reverence  for  holy  things,  as  know- 
ing that  irreverence  is  the  first  step  to  unbelief.  He  will  never  be  unduly 
anxious  to  speak  much  openly  on  subjects  connected  with  religion,  as  knowing- 


FiftecntJi  International  Convention.  45 

the  danger  to  himself  lest  his  professions  should  outrun  his  performances,  and 
danger  to  others,  lest,  from  his  example,  they  should  get  into  a  careless  way  of 
speaking  of  holy  things.  His  light  will  shine  before  men  because  they  who 
watch  him  will  see  that  he  is  diligently  discharging  the  duties  of  that  state  of 
life  to  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  him,  but  there  will  be  no  ostentation  or 
display;  rather,  he  will  live  in  his  own  thoughts  and  be  so  cautious  of  exposing 
them  to  that  world  which  he  has  renounced  that  to  casual  observers  there  will 
seem  to  be  nothing  peculiar  about  him.  The  great  mass  of  Christians,  it  is  to 
be  feared,  owe  what  they  have  of  religion  to  accident  more  than  any  other 
cause.  They  do  certain  things  because  it  is  the  way  of  the  world  to  do  them; 
they  abstain  from  others  because  the  habits  of  society  seem  to  require  it.  To 
the  spiritual-minded  man  God  will  be  everything  and  the  world  nothing.  The 
first  and  cliiefest  aid  to  spiritual-mindedness  is  that  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
He  dwelleth  in  us,  is  ever  ready  to  assist  us,  cleanses  and  purifies  the  heart. 
He  renews  us  where  everything  has  been  decayed  by  the  fraud  and  malice  of 
the  devil  or  by  our  own  carnal  will  and  failures.  How  diligently,  therefore, 
should  we  listen  to  his  voice;  how  carefully  should  we  attend  to  it  when  heard; 
how  wakeful  should  we  be  lest  by  thought  or  word  or  action  we  should  grieve 
him,  or  quench  the  fire  which  he  has  kindled  within  us!  The  next  great  aid 
which  has  been  provided  for  those  who  are  aiming  at  deepening  the  spiritual 
life  is  to  be  found  in  the  privileges  which  the  church  offers  us.  As  she  sees 
Christ  in  all  things,  so  she  will  lead  us  to  do  the  same.  With  her  daily  round 
of  prayer  and  praise,  it  should  prepare  us  while  still  on  earth  for  the  never- 
ending  services  of  heaven  and  the  unceasing  adoration  of  our  Lord.  To  the 
better  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  let  us  constantly  ask  the  questions, 
"What  lack  I  yet.'"'  "How  far  am  I  walking  worthy  of  the  Lord  unto  all 
pleasing  ?"  In  order  to  judge  accurately  of  that  standard  of  perfection  which 
God  is  pleased  to  set  forth  as  the  model  for  our  imitation,  we  must  refer,  not  to 
the  opinions  and  language  of  the  world  about  us,  but  to  his  own  Word.  He  has 
set  forth  his  eternal  Son,  the  head  of  the  church,  as  the  example  which  the 
members  of  his  body  are  to  follow.  No  lower  standard,  no,  not  that  of  the 
purest  saint  or  the  highest  angel,  will  be  sufficient.  In  seeking  to  deepen  your 
spiritual  life  you  must  be  guided  not  by  the  state  of  your  religious  feelings,  but 
by  a  strict  review  and  unshrinking  self-examination,  whether  or  not  you  can 
trace  in  yourselves  a  steady  development  in  the  true  light  of  the  spirit,  a  grad- 
ual maturing  and  ripening  of  the  full  fruit  of  holiness.  There  is  no  criterion  so 
little  to  be  trusted,  in  estimating  our  Christian  status,  as  arguments  drawn 
from  the  state  of  our  religious  feelings.  Religion  does  not  consist  in  excite- 
ment, but  in  action.  No  man  who  is  in  earnest  but  will  have  some  natural  fer- 
vor,—  a  fervor  which  must  be  trained,  not  repressed, —  but  stiil  this  fervor  will 
vary  in  intensity  in  different  constitutions;  and,  therefore,  it  is  conceivable 
that  a  man  may  discharge  his  daily  duties  to  God  without  his  being  sensible  to 
himself  of  any  very  lively  emotions  about  him.  His  heart  and  feeling  may 
appear  to  himself  cold,  and  yet  this  may  not  arise  from  unbelief,  but  from  his 
natural  temperament  of  mind.  We  are  never  to  fancy  that  we  have  attained  to 
that  degree  of  righteousness  that  is  sufficient.  To  halt,  to  look  back,  or  to 
slumber,  are  but  so  many  tokens  of  impending  ruin.  Let  us  beware  of  mistak- 
ing words  and  professions  for  Christian  faith,  and  of  confounding  good  feeling 
with  good  works.  We  are  Christ's  soldiers  and  are  fighting  under  his  banner. 
Our  duty  is  not  only  not  to  lose  heart,  but  to  press  forward  and  gain  more 
ground  continually. 

The  last  speaker  to  take  up  the  general  topic  was  Rev.  Mr.  Watson, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Address  of  Rev.  P.  P.  Watson,  Beaufort,  S.  C. 

The  closing  of  the  nineteenth  century  witnesses  an  effort  that  is  almost  uni- 
versal in  our  schools  and  colleges,  looking  forward  to  the  building-up  of  a  strong, 
vigorous  manhood  and  womanhood,  laying  deep  the  foundations  for  mental, 
moral,  and  spiritual  life.    The  life  of  Christ,  his  association  with  and  his  relation 


46  Official  Report  of  the 

to  his  disciples,  gives  emphasis  to  the  possibility  and  the  necessity  of  a  progress 
in  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  plain  to  us  that  there  are  many  who 
have  received  Christ,  but  are  not  working  for  Christ  as  they  should.  They 
seem  to  be  in  possession  of  certain  gifts  and  graces  that,  if  used,  would  tell  on 
the  lives  and  consciences  of  men;  but  there  is  a  want  of  enthusiasm,  and  this 
demonstrates  the  want  of  a  deeper  consecration  and  sanctification  for  the  servi- 
ces of  the  Lord.  He  who  would  enjoy  the  benelits  of  a  deeper  spiritual  life 
must  throw  open  the  windows  of  his  soul  and  let  the  beams  of  Christ,  the  Sun 
of  righteousness,  fall  thereon.  This  being  done,  our  will  is  lost  in  the  will  of 
God  ;  our  bodies  are  yielded  up,  and  becoming  emptied  of  self,  God  fills  us 
with  his  Spirit.  This  state  brings  us  into  communion  with  God,  and  commu- 
nion is  one  of  the  essential  means  for  the  deepening  of  spiritual  life.  Another 
means  for  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  is  the  inspired  Word  of  God, — 
appropriating  it  by  a  spiritual  assimilation  to  the  wants  of  the  soul.  The  his- 
tory of  the  Christian  church  from  the  days  of  the  apostles  to  the  present  time 
is  a  history  of  the  glorious  achievements  of  men  and  women  whose  hearts  have 
been  touched,  whose  lips  have  been  purified,  whose  intellects  have  been  conse- 
crated, and  whose  souls  have  been  surcharged  with  holy  fire.  This  deepening 
of  the  spiritual  life  works  wonders  in  the  soul.  It  brings  man  into  a  closer  re- 
lation with  God.  He  understands  more  thoroughly  his  duties  to  God,  and 
delights  more  in  the  services  of  God. 

God  with  us,  and  success  will  come  ;  God  with  us,  and  the  windows  of  heaven 
will  be  opened  and  showers  of  blessings  will  come  down  upon  us;  God  with  us, 
and  we  shall  leave  an  impression  upon  this  city,  her  business  and  commercial 
enterprises,  her  homes,  her  schools,  her  colleges,  and  her  churches,  that  shall 
enhance  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  her  inhabitants.  God  with  us,  and  the  na- 
tion's capital  shall  feel  a  spiritual  shock,  unparalleled  in  her  history,  that  shall 
bless  her  and  magnify  her  among  the  cities  of  the  world. 

In  the  absence  of  Rev.  Wm.  Shaw,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Colbert  conducted  the  "  quiet  hour  "  with  which  the  meeting  closed. 

Calvary    Baptist  Church, 

An  immense  congregation  filled  every  seat  in  the  Calvary  Baptist 
Church.  They  packed  against  the  walls  and  filled  the  aisles  and  stair- 
ways. Dr.  Samuel  H.  Greene,  the  pastor,  announced  that  there  was 
nearly  as  much  more  room  in  the  "  adult  room  "  as  in  the  church 
proper,  and  if  those  who  were  standing  would  go  into  that  room,  speak- 
ers would  be  provided  for  them,  and  music  would  be  conducted  by  Mr. 
Judd.  This  was  immediately  taken  advantage  of,  and,  without  seeming 
to  affect  the  size  of  the  crowd  in  the  church,  the  adult  room  was 
quickly  filled,  there  being  no  more  room  than  in  the  church. 

The  music  of  the  main  meeting  was  directed  by  Mr.  P.  H.  Bristow. 
The  singing  was  heartily  entered  into  by  the  entire  congregation.  Rev. 
Dr.  Greene  presided  and  conducted  the  exercises,  offering  prayer. 

The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  J.  T.  McCrory,  D.  D.,  of  Pittsburg,  presi- 
dent of  the  Pennsylvania  Christian  Endeavor  Union.  The  speaker 
referred  to  Peter's  efforts  to  deepen  the  spiritual  life,  summing  it  all 
up  in  the  word  "  grow." 

Dr.  McCrory  emphasized  the  importance  of  Christian  Endeavorers 
keeping  their  pledges  by  reading  their  Bibles  every  day.  God  would 
help  the  young  people  to  grow. 

Rev.  Dr.  Smith  Baker,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  was  the  second  and  last 
speaker. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  47 

Address  of  Rev.  Smith  Baker,  D.D.,  East  Boston,  ilass. 

The  material  is  a  type  of  the  spiritual.  The  laws  of  the  lower  represent  the 
laws  of  the  higher.  The  wise  men  of  the  Old  Testament  constantly  refer  to 
them.  "  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard;  learn  her  ways, and  be  wise."  "  The  spi- 
der lay  eth  hold  with  her  hands  and  is  in  kings'  palaces."  No  otlier  teacher  is  so 
fruitful  in  this  method  as  our  Lord.  "Consider  the  lilies,  how  they  grow."  "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard  seed."  "  A  sower  went  forth 
to  sow."  And  without  some  kind  of  a  material  illustration  he  did  not  speak  to  them. 
There  are  but  few  so  instructive,  complete,  and  beautiful  types  of  the  nature  and 
growth  of  the  Christian  life  as  that  of  the  healthy  tree.  The  tree  has  an  unseen 
and  an  outward  life  ;  so  has  the  Christian.  The  tree  has  trunk  and  branches, 
without  which  its  inner  life  could  not  be  manifested  ;  so  the  spiritual  life  has  its 
great  fundamental  doctrines  and  moral  precepts  which  give  it  strength  and 
without  which  it  would  be  only  a  changing  sentiment. 

This  is  the  importance  of  our  subject,  "  The  Deepening  of  the  Spiritual 
Life."  The  strength  of  the  tree  depends  upon  its  roots,  the  beauty  of  the  tree 
depends  upon  its  roots,  and  the  usefulness  of  the  tree  depends  upon  its  roots. 
How  is  the  unseen  life  of  the  roots  to  be  cultivated  } 

The  first  thing  for  the  deepening  of  the  life  of  the  tree  is  nutrition.  The  soil 
must  be  rich  in  that  which  feeds  the  sap  of  the  tree.  Thus  in  the  deepening  of 
the  spiritual  life  the  love  of  Christ  is  not  enough.  The  Christian  life  must  be 
rooted  in  the  truth  or  it  will  be  but  a  transient  emotion  without  strength  or  fruit. 

The  Bible  is  that  truth  ;  it  is  the  soil  in  which  the  faith  of  the  soul  is  to 
grow.  All  other  soil  is  desert  land  for  the  spiritual  life.  There  is  no  nutrition 
for  the  divine  life  in  heathen  mythologies  or  ancient  philosophies  or  modern 
science.  As  well  try  to  satisfy  the  hungry  body  with  historical  facts,  or  the 
healthy  eye  with  moonlight,  or  the  natural  affections  with  paper  dolls  or  marble 
statues,  as  to  seek  to  satisfy  the  soul  with  anything  less  than  the  revealed  Word 
of  God. 

Mere  intelligence  can  not  unlock  the  spiritual  mysteries.  Secular  education 
can  not  feed  the  soul  any  more  than  agates,  and  pearls,  and  beautiful  stones  can 
feed  the  roots  of  a  tree.  Secular  education  must  fall  before  the  cross,  be  bap- 
tized with  the  spirit  and  warmed  with  the  love  of  Christ,  before  it  can  deepen 
the  spiritual  life. 

The  Bible  is  the  basis  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  Bible  is  the  life  of  the 
Protestant  church.  The  Bible  is  the  spiritual  life  of  the  world.  A  man,  in 
order  to  get  the  spirit  of  Shakespeare,  or  of  Browning,  must  not  only  hear  them 
read  once  in  a  while,  or  read  a  few  verses  of  them  now  and  then,  but  he  must 
read  and  read  and  study  them  over  and  over  before  the  thought  which  moved 
the  poet  shall  become  clear  and  real  to  him.  We  must  get  into  the  words 
before  the  sentiment  can  fill  us.  Thus  with  the  Bible  ;  it  must  be  read  and 
studied  and  its  words  and  expressions  become  fixed  in  the  brain  before  its  spirit 
will  fill  and  thrill  the  soul.  There  is  no  more  important  part  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  pledge  than  that  which  requires  its  members  to  read  a  portion  of 
God's  Word  each  day.  Our  Saviour  was  made  strong  to  resist  temptation  by 
being  full  of  the  word  of  God.  The  word  of  God  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
and  when  we  are  full  of  that  word  then  the  Spirit  has  something  to  work  with. 
The  truth  of  God  is  a  lamp  unto  our  path,  and  when  we  are  full  of  that  truth 
then  the  Spirit  has  something  to  illumine  our  way  with.  No  other  words  are  so 
suggestive,  no  other  words  are  so  penetrating,  no  other  words  are  so  revealing, 
no  other  words  are  so  quickening,  and  no  other  words  so  satisfy  the  soul  as  the 
words  in  which  the  Spirit  has  been  pleased  to  reveal  God's  will  to  us. 

One  verse  of  the  Bible  incarnate  in  one  life  develops  that  life  more  than  all 
the  schools  and  all  the  rituals  of  a  whole  generation.  It  is  communion  which 
develops  the  mind,  and  heart,  and  soul.  The  poet  communes  with  great  ideas 
in  nature.  The  scientist  communes  with  the  rocks,  and  the  stars,  and  the 
forces  of  nature.  The  artist  communes  with  some  great  thought  as  it  whispers 
to  his  heart  in  the  harmony  of  sound  until  his  soul  is  fired  and  thrilled  with  a 
passion  which  finds  expression  at  the  keys  of  the  organ,  or  in  the  matchless 
powers  of  the  human  voice  in  song.     Thus  when  the  redeemed  soul  opens  itself 


48  Official  Report  of  the 

to  the  Word  of  God  in  meditation,  and  to  the  Christ  of  God  in  prayer,  and  the 
saved  man  communes  with  his  Saviour  as  lover  communes  with  lover,  then 
higher,  broader,  deeper,  and  clearer  views  of  truth  come  into  the  mind,  and 
sweeter,  intenser,  and  richer  love  burns  in  the  heart,  and  faith  stronger  and 
stronger  enters  into  that  within  the  veil,  and  hope  brighter  and  brighter  rises 
above  all  tears  and  all  fears,  and  joy  like  the  beams  of  the  mornmg  makes,  the 
world  a  chariot  of  victory  upon  which  the  Christian  rides  into  glory. 

The  closing  exercise  was  the  "quiet  liour,"  conducted  by  Mr.  C.  N, 
Hunt,  of  Minneapolis,  president  of  the  Minnesota  Christian  Endeavor 
Union. 

In  the  adult  Sunday-school  room  Mr.  George  Judd  presided,  and 
directed  the  music,  with  Miss  Minnie  Roberts  as  pianist.  Mr.  C.  N. 
Hunt  spoke,  and  was  followed  by  Dr.  Smith  Baker  and  Rev.  J.  G. 
Muir,  pastor  of  the  E  Street  Baptist  Cliurch,  Washington.  It  was  a 
very  profitable  "  overflow  "  meeting. 

First  Baptist  Church. 

The  young  people  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  were  the  hosts  of  the 
Virginia  delegation. 

Rev.  Chas.  Stakely,  pastor  of  the  church,  ascended  the  pulpit  and 
opened  the  meeting  by  requesting  the  choir  of  twenty  picked  voices, 
under  the  leadership  of  Prof.  N.  Dushane  Cloward,  with  Prof,  John 
Porter  Lawrence  at  the  organ,  to  sing  the  doxology.  Dr.  Stakely  is 
known  all  over  the  North  and  South  as  one  of  the  youngest  and  most 
successful  Baptist  preachers ;  and  in  the  invocation  which  he  offered, 
some  heartfelt  words  were  delivered  when  he  spoke  of  the  great  bless- 
ing which  the  delegates  were  receiving  in  being  able  to  be  present  at 
one  of  the  largest  religious  conventions  of  modern  times,  Washington 
City  being  doubly  blessed  in  being  the  place  of  the  Convention.  Rev. 
W.  F.  McCauley,  from  the  Buckeye  State,  read  the  Scripture  lesson, 
taking  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans,  and  followed  it  with  a  short  prayer. 

The  first  speaker  to  be  introduced  was  Rev.  Edgerton  R.  Young,  of 
Toronto,  Ontario. 

Address  of  Rev.  Edgerton  R.  Young,  of  Toronto,  Canada. 

Said  Henry  Martyn,  the  devoted  missionary,  "  Live  more  v/ith  Christ,  catch 
more  of  his  spirit;  for  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  the  spirit  of  missions,  and  the 
nearer  we  get  to  him  the  more  intensely  missionary  we  shall  become." 

Said  Paul,  the  great  apostle,  "  I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the 
mercies  of  (jod,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable 
unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service." 

Says  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature.  .  .  .  And  behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  feather 
upon  you  ;  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  until  ye  be  endued  with  power 
from  on  high." 

This  enduement  of  power  is  the  scriptural  means  for  "  deepening  the 
spiritual  life."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  life,  and  the  origin  of  all  life.  At  crea- 
tion's dawn  he  brooded  over  this  new  world,  and  from  him  came  that  vitalizing 
energy  that  brought  life  universal  to  this  fair  world  of  ours.  "  By  his  Spirit  he 
garnished  the  heavens."  If  this  is  true,  —  and  we  believe  it  is,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Third  Person  in  the  Blessed  Trinity,  is  the  author  of  physical  life, — 
it  shows  us  how  great  is  the  interest  he  takes  in  us,  as  well  as  God  the  Father 
and  God  the  Son. 


FiftecntJi  International  Convention.  49 

But  it  is  in  the  great  redemptive  scheme  that  we  see  in  the  fullest  light  the 
greatness  of  the  work  assigned  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  is  no  deepening  of 
spiritual  life,  for  there  is  no  spiritual  life  at  all,  without  him.  Hence,  absolutely 
essential  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  Until  his  vital,  energizing,  blessed  influences  are 
felt  in  human  hearts,  Ezekiel's  vision  is  a  sad  reality. 

"Can  these  bones  live.''  O  Lord  God!  thou  knowest."  Cheering  is  his 
answer,  and  glorious  have  been  the  results  throughout  all  the  ages.  And  it  is 
the  same  to-day,  for  God's  plan  of  salvation  in  all  its  fulness  and  blessedness 
is  from  the  beginning  of  days. 

This  deepening  the  spiritual  life  is  a  glorious  possibility,  and  Omnipotence 
has  done  iiis  part  for  its  accomplishment. 

"  Tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on 
high."  Those  disciples  and  the  other  loving  ones  obeyed,  and  there  came  the 
promise  of  the  Father,  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  a  way  so  real  and  glorious  that  they 
all  were  very  conscious  of  it,  and  so  were  all  their  friends  and  also  their 
enemies. 

Peter,  once  so  cowardly  but  now  so  brave,  said  a  great  many  glorious  things 
that  day;  but  there  is  only  one  of  those  blessed  truths  we  wish  to  quote  here, 
and  it  is  tliis,  —  "  For  the  promise  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all 
that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call."  Surely  this  is 
one  of  the  "exceeding  great  and  precious  promises."  It  reaches  down  to  us 
who  are  here  gathered  from  many  States  and  provinces  and  distant  lands, 
worshipping  with  the  saints  that  are  in  Washington  at  this  great  Christian 
Endeavor  Convention. 

Yes,  Peter,  we  are  glad  that,  under  divine  inspiration,  you  uttered  those 
words  ;  the  promises  are  to  such  as  "are  afar  off."  They  reach  to  us  here,  and 
we  accept  them  in  their  full  significance;  and  we,  with  humble,  lowly,  contrite 
yet  believing  hearts  "receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  This  is  the  prom- 
ised Comforter,  "even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive, 
because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him;  but  ye  know  him,  for  he  dwell- 
eth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you."  Beloved,  do  you  know  him  }  Does  he 
dwell  in  you?  "  Have  ye  received  the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  believed.?"  If  so, 
happy  are  you. 

We  know  not  who  selected  this  very  important  subject  for  these  openino" 
addresses  at  this  great  Christian  Endeavor  Convention.  We  are  not  careful  to 
know;  but  this  we  do  know, —  that  no  more  important  or  vital  subject  could  have 
been  suggested.  For  two  reasons  this  is  evident.  First,  for  the  spiritual  hap- 
piness, the  soul  restfulness,  and  the  Christlikeness  of  every  loyal  Christian 
Endeavorer,  and  for  every  child  of  God  everywhere. 

Augustine  wrote,  "The  soul  is  restless  till  it  rests  in  God."  Very  true, 
indeed,  is  this,  and  millions  have  found  it  out. 

"There  remaineth  therefore  a  rest  for  the  people  of  God," — a  rest  of  soul, 
a  sweet  rest  in  the  atoning  sacrifice,  a  foretaste  of  the  rest,  sweet  rest,  where 
"the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest."  But  it  does  not 
mean  spiritual  indolence.  Just  the  reverse.  Time  is  for  employment ;  eternity, 
for  enjoyment.  This  brings  us  to  the  second  reason  why  the  Holy  Spirit's 
work  of  deepening  the  spiritual  life  is  so  necessary  and  important.  It  is  tliat 
there  may  be  rendered  to  Him  whose  we  are  and  whom  we  serve,  the  highest 
and  most  efficient  service.  We  are  called  not  only  to  be  like  him,  but  also 
called  to  be  co-workers  with  him.  He,  the  Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings, 
asks  us  —  and  somewhere  in  his  plan  has  he  the  niche  for  us  to  fill  —  to  enter  into 
partnership  with  himself.  Marvelous  condescension,  amazing  love!  And  he 
says,  "  He  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also,  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do,  because  I  go  unto  my  Father."  Greater 
works  !  Surely  that  must  be  a  mistake.  O  no  !  for  Jesus  himself  uttered  those 
words.  Then  what  do  they  mean.?  Why,  they  mean  that  if  any  of  us  are  the 
instruments  in  God's  hands  in  the  conversion  of  an  immortal  soul,  we  do  a 
greater  work  than  was  the  miracle  of  the  raising  of  the  body  of  Lazarus  from 
the  dead.  Our  work  is  for  the  regeneration  of  immortal,  eternal  spirits,  whose 
existence  shall  run  on  and  on  through  all  eternity  with  that  of  God  himself.  This 


50  Official  Report  of  the 

is  the  call  of  the  Master.  These  are  the  marching  orders  to  all  his  followers: 
"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  This  is 
the  great  commission.  With  the  equipment  of  the  Pentecostal  baptism,  our 
work  is  clearly  marked  out  before  us,  —  an  ignorant  world  to  be  instructed,  a 
polluted  world  to  be  regenerated,  an  enslaved  world  to  be  disenthralled,  a  dark 
world  to  be  illumined,  a  sinful  world  to  be  saved,  a  redeemed  world  to  be 
brought  to  his  feet. 

Beloved,  this  is  our  work  to  which  we  are  called  —  we,  instead  of  the  angels. 
Let  us  get,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  illuminating  power,  larger,  grander  conceptions 
of  the  responsibility  as  well  as  the  magnitude  of  this  work,  —  at  home,  as  well 
as  abroad,  all  the  world  for  Christ. 

And  blessed  be  his  glorious  name  forever;  and  let  the  whole  earth  be  filled 
with  his  glory.     Amen,  and  amen. 

The  next  speaker  was  from  New  York  City,  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Camp- 
bell, D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Lexington  Avenue  Baptist  Church. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  L.  Campbell,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

There  is  perhaps  no  single  expression  that  is  more  often  on  the  lips  of  all 
believers  than  this :  "  Pray  for  me,  that  I  may  be  a  truer,  better,  worthier  Chris- 
tian." We  see  the  ideals  presented  to  us  in  God's  Word,  and  then  we  look  at 
ourselves.  Between  what  we  are  and  what  we  feel  we  ought  to  be,  what  we" 
have  a  right  reasonably  to  expect  ourselves  to  be,  there  is  such  a  chasm  that 
we  often  become  disheartened  and  discouraged.  The  subject  we  are  consider- 
ing this  evening  is  therefore  one  of  living  interest  to  every  true  child  of  God. 
The  word  translated  "convert"  in  the  common  version  of  the  Bible  literally 
means  "turn."  When  Bunyan's  Pilgrim  turned  his  back  on  the  City  of 
Destruction,  and  set  his  face  steadfastly  toward  the  Celestial  Gate,  that 
moment  he  was  converted  ;  but  how  vast  and  wonderful  the  experiences  which 
lay  before  him  ere  he  reached  his  journey's  end !  The  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  is  not  the  close  ;  its  inception  is  not  its  goal.  In  regeneration  the  child 
is  born;  in  sanctification  it  grows  to  "a  mature  man"  and  attains  "to  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  (Eph.  iv.  13.)  Justification  is 
our  title  to  the  skies.  Sanctification  is  our  meetness  and  our  fitness  for  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light.  We  need  not  only  more  Christians,  but  if 
the  world  is  going  to  be  saved,  we  need  also  a  higher  standard  of  piety, — Chris- 
tians that  can  be  weighed  as  well  as  numbered,  Christians  that  will  be 
ensamples  to  the  flock,  Christians  that  will  stand  "four-square  to  all  the  winds 
that  blow;  "  Christians  that  are  out-and-out  for  God.  Laying  aside  all  theories 
of  men,  and  looking  directly  into  the  pages  of  God's  Word,  we  come  back 
impressed  with  the  solemn,  glorious  thought  that  there  are  heights  and  depths 
and  breadths  and  fulnesses,  even  in  this  life,  that  but  few  Christians  attain. 
Tennyson  says,  "  I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met."  We  become  like  those 
with  whom  we  associate.  Look  at  that  evening  sky.  See  yon  huge  mass  of 
clouds,  dark,  forbidding,  cold,  hanging  low  in  the  west;  mountains  piled  beyond 
mountains,  great  Titanic  forms,  sullen,  black,  repellant.  That  cloud  can  not 
change  itself.  It  might  toss  its  vapory  bosom  into  ten  thousand  anxious  forms, 
but  it  would  remain  as  gloomy  and  dread  as  ever.  Now  try  another  method. 
Let  the  cloud  swing  its  shape  round  into  the  light  of  the  evening  sun,  and 
let  it  remain  there  conversing  with  the  sunbeams.  Just  as  soon  as  it  begins 
to  cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  the  sun  it  commences  to  change  into  the  same 
image.  First  a  deep  blush  passes  over  its  face.  The  outer  edges  become 
golden.  The  color  deepens  and  deepens  as  the  rays  continue  to  play  among 
the  shadows,  until  at  last  the  whole  mass  becomes  transfigured,  and  its  cold 
heart  becomes  saturated  and  drenched  with  flame,  and  there  it  stands  piled  like 
burning  ships  and  mountains  athwart  the  sky,  changed  into  the  glory  of  the 
king  of  day.  A  voice  comes  to  me  out  of  the  bosom  of  that  cloud,  saying,  "All 
this  change  was  brought  about  not  by  my  own  effort  to  change  myself,  or  to 
throw  the  darkness  out  of  my  bosom  ;  I  simply  supplied  the  conditions.     I  put 


FiftcentJi  Internatiojial  Convention.  51 

myself  in  right  relations.  I  entered  the  light  and  I  tarried  there,  and  the 
natural  result  was  that  I  was  changed."  Beholding,  we  become  changed  from 
glory  to  glory.  "  If  ye  abide  in  me  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask 
what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."  (John  xv.  7.)  The  new  man  is 
renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of  Him  that  created  him.  (Col.  iii.  10.) 
"Wliosoever  abideth  in  him  sinneth  not;  whosoever  sinneth  hath  not  seen 
him,  neither  known  him."  (i  John  iii.  6.)  He  who  consciously  lives  under  "  the 
great  Taskmaster's  eye  "  will  not  dare  go  on  in  sin.  The  principle  that  we  are 
now  considering  is  a  familiar  one.  Students  unconsciously  imitate  the  peculi- 
arities of  their  honored  teachers.  Writers  reflect  the  style  of  their  favorite 
authors.  Husband  and  wife  are  growing  more  and  more  alike  all  the  time, 
until  at  last  you  have ''two  minds  with  but  a  single  thought,  two  hearts  that 
beat  as  one."  While  alone  with  God  in  the  holy  mount,  a  glory  that  he  wist 
not  of  shone  from  Moses's  face.  Cultivate  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
Jesus,  and  the  wofld  will  lose  its  charm.  You  can  not  from  the  heart  sing  one 
stanza  of  a  gospel  hymn;  you  can  not  read  one  chapter  in  the  Bible;  you  can 
not  spend  a  few  moments  in  silent  prayer;  you  can  not  attend  one  prayer 
meeting,  one  sanctuary  service,  without  being  changed  more  into  his  likeness. 
When  at  last  the  beatific  vision  bursts  full  upon  our  view,  we  shall  be  like  hii?i, 
for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.     Then  our  sanctification  will  be  complete. 

If  this  is  the  goal, —  Christlikeness, —  what  are  the  steps  by  which  we  are  to 
attain  it?  The  programme  lies  fully  before  us  in  the  New  Testament.  The 
first  step  is  critcifixion.  Jesus  died,  was  buried,  rose  again.  So,  too,  with  the 
believer.  "  But  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me  and  I  unto  the  world." 
(Gal.  vi.  14.)  Again,  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ;  nevertheless  I  live,  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  (Gal.  ii.  20.)  And  again,  "  Likewise  reckon  ye  your- 
selves to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  (Rom.  vi.  12.)  And  again,  "  For  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God."  (Col.  iii.  3.)  The  world  is  to  be  dead  to  us,  and  we  to  it.  We 
are  to  be  in  it,  but  not  of  it. 

The  second  step  is  coj-onation.  After  the  cross  came  the  crown.  Jesus  led 
his  disciples  out  as  far  as  Bethany,  and  then,  with  hands  outstretched  in  priestly 
benediction,  he  parted  with  them  and  rose  to  his  throne.  Paul  cried,  "  Christ 
has  died,"  but  he  did  not  stop  there.  He  hurried  on  to  add,  "Yea  rather,  who 
is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God"  —  the  place  of  power  — 
"who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us  "  (Rom.  viii.34).  The  practical  questions 
are,  first.  Has  Christ  been  crucified  in  our  lives?  Secondly,  Has  he  been  glori- 
fied in  our  lives,  —  made  "  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  "  ?  As  one  has  well 
put  it,  Has  there  been  a  coronation  day  in  your  life  when  "  in  full  and  glad  sur- 
render you  placed  the  crown  upon  his  brow,  crying,  'Crown  him,  crown  him, 
crown  him  Lord  of  all '?"  If  the  Bethany  scene  has  taken  place  in  your  life  as 
well  as  the  Calvary  one,  then  Jesus  is  your  Lord  as  well  as  your  Saviour. 
"Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  It  is  here  that  the  study  of  the  Bible 
comes  in.  We  want  to  know  his  will,  that  we  may  do  it.  "  Ours  not  to  make 
reply;  ours  not  to  reason  why."  When  he  speaks  it  is  ours  to  listen  ;  when  he 
commands  it  is  ours  to  obey;  when  he  leads  it  is  ours  to  follow. 

The  next  step  is  prayer.  During  those  ten  days  they  were  all  with  one 
accord  in  the  upper  room  in  the  great  pre-Pentecostal  prayer  meeting.  John 
McNiel  tells  us  that  the  Scottish  bankers  have  published  the  fact  that  there  are 
$200,000,000  lying  unclaimed  in  their  deposit  vaults.  The  owners  of  this  money 
may  some  of  them  have  died  in  the  poorhouse,  or  some  of  them  may  now  be 
living  in  garrets  and  cellars  suffering  for  lack  of  their  daily  bread.  They  know 
nothing  of  the  wealth  piled  up  yonder  at  their  disposal,  and  which  they  would 
at  once  get  if  they  went  and  claimed  it.  What  stores  of  untold,  unmeasured, 
unsearchable  riches  are  stored  up  for  you  to-night  in  the  treasury  of  God,  and 
which  you  can  have  for  the  asking !  Why  should  heirs  of  glory  live  in  spiritual 
want  and  die  in  spiritual  poverty  when  all  the  wealth  of  heaven  is  theirs?  "Ask 
and  ye  shall  receive."  "  More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer  than  this  world 
dreams  of." 


52  Official  Report  of  the 

This  brings  me  to  the  last  step,  the  glories  of  Pentecost.  We  have  fol- 
lowed the  steps  that  lead  up  to  it  in  every  life ;  namely,  crucifixion,  coronation, 
prayer,  and  Pentecost.  We  Icnow  Christ  in  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings;  we 
know  him  in  the  majesty  of  his  power,  having  made  absolute  surrender  to  him 
as  our  exalted  King;  we  know  him  in  the  intimacies  of  our  deepest  supplica- 
tions, and  as  one  who  never  turns  us  empty  away;  then  we  know  him  in  his 
blessing  as  unfolded  to  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Pentecostal  fuhiess.  Are  you 
prepared  to  pay  the  price?  Granted  that  there  were  some  features  about  Pen- 
tecost that  were  external  and  not  to  be  repeated  ; — it  marked  the  public  inau- 
guration of  the  present  dispensation;  there  were  visible  signs  and  wonders. 
But  in  its  essential  character,  these  scenes  are  yet  often  repeated.  There  are 
Peniels  yet  where,  after  a  night  of  wrestling,  Jacob  became  Israel.  There  are 
holy  mounts  of  fellowship  still  whence  you  can  come  down  with  your  faces  lit 
up  with  a  new  radiance.  There  are  Pentecostal  scenes  that  yet  bless  our 
world.  This  is  abundantly  attested  in  the  lives  of  men  like  Christmas  Evans, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  George  Muller,  Henry  Martyn,  and  hosts  of  others.  May 
it  be  also  yours.  Pre-eminent  above  all  other  things,  may  you  and  I,  my  dear 
friends,  take  with  us  to  our  homes  more  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

The  "  quiet  hour  "  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  W.  F.  McCauley,  of 
Dayton,  O. 

Central  Presbyterian  Church. 

Most  of  those  who  crowded  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church  were 
members  of  the  Canadian  delegations,  whose  headquarters  are  at  that 
church,  but  scattered  among  the  congregation  were  delegates  from  the 
States  of  the  Union  and  residents  of  the  city.  Quite  a  party  of  New 
Jersey  people  were  present. 

Rev.  A.  W.  Pitzer,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  church,  was  announced  in 
the  programme  as  the  presiding  officer,  but  on  account  of  illness  in  his 
family  he  was  compelled  to  be  absent  from  the  city.  His  place  last 
night  was  filled  by  Mr.  Selden  M.  Ely,  president  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
of  the  church.  Before  the  proceedings  had  advanced  beyond  the 
opening  hymn,  Mr.  G.  Sargent  Elliott,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church, 
spoke  on  behalf  of  Dr.  Pitzer  as  to  his  regret  at  being  compelled  to  be 
away  during  Convention  week. 

After  devotional  exercises  and  the  responsive  reading  of  Psalm  ciii., 
prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  John  McMillan  of  Halifax,  N.  S.  He  was 
followed  by  Rev.  J.  Clement  French,  D.D.,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  a 
fifteen-minute  address  on  the  topic  of  the  evening.  As  he  stepped  for- 
ward on  the  platform,  the  New  Jersey  contingent  of  the  audience  gave 
him  a  loyal  reception,  waving  fans,  hand  flags,  and  handkerchiefs. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  Clement  French,  D.D.,  Newark,  N.  J. 

We  all  have  one  common  theme  to-night,  "  Deepening  the  Spiritual  Life." 
We  are  here  not  for  the  rivalries  of  learning  or  eloquence,  but  for  serious, 
earnest  work.  It  is  the  call  of  God,  as  well  as  of  men,  to  set  the  whole  anthem 
of  this  Convention  to  the  key-note  of  spiritual  purpose  and  result.  My  single 
hope  is  to  find  and  define  to  you  the  paramount  and  practical  work  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  which  is  best  and  grandest  because  of  its  direct  and  reflexive 
bearings.  When  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  asked,  "  Doctor,  you  know  many 
things,  but  what  do  you  consider  the  greatest  thing  in  life  ?  "  the  sturdy  old  hero 
of  forty  revivals  replied,  "  It  is  not  philosophy ;  it  is  not  theology ;  it  is  not  con- 
troversy ;  it  is  saving  souls."     I  have  sometimes  feared  that  this  expression. 


Fifteenth  Internatio}ial  Convention.  53 

"  soul-saving,"  or  "soul-winning,"  may  degenerate  into  cant,  and  perhaps  preju- 
dice some  man  who  may  not  clearly  understand  it.  In  its  connection  with  our 
Christian  Endeavor  it  means  simply  that  our  leading,  commanding  purpose 
should  be  to  present  the  religion  of  Christ  as  not  only  the  one  safe,  sensible 
possession  of  the  individual,  but  as  energizing,  inspiring,  making  more  valuable 
everywhere  experience,  possession,  deportment  of  human  life  and  activity,  just 
as  preciousness  was  given  to  Corinthian  brass  by  the  gold  which  was  suffused 
through  its  entire  substance.  To  drive  souls  is  not  to  win  them.  The  man 
forced  at  the  point  of  a  bayonet  to  bow  and  cross  himself  and  mumble  prayers 
before  a  crucifix  would  be  only  a  pitiful  counterfeit  of  a  worshipper.  I  have 
small  faith  in  those  conversions  which  have  not  sprung  from  a  clear  view  of 
the  moral  ugliness  of  sin  as  against  a  pure  and  holy  God,  and  in  which  the 
heart  is  not  won  by  the  supreme  excellence  and  beauty  of  the  One  who  saves 
from  its  condemning  power.  In  this  light  nothing  could  be  truer  than  the  words 
of  Lyman  Beecher.  Thus  to  win  souls  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world  —  both 
for  those  who  are  saved  and  for  those  who  have  been  instrumental  in  sav- 
ing them.  Now,  Christian  Endeavorers,  we  want  it  to  strike  into  our  very  con- 
sciousness that  our  work  is  in  the  very  first  place  rescue  work.  But  let  us  not 
talk  of  converting  men !  That  is  God's  work.  We  can  sow  the  seed  upon 
which  he  will  send  the  quickening  sun  and  rain.  We  can  woo  and  win  men  into 
the  spheres  where  the  light  of  God's  truth  is  shining.  We  cannot  make  them 
eat  of  the  banquet,  but  we  can  spread  the  table  and  set  a  chair,  and  invite  at 
least  one  hungry  soul  to  occupy  it.  We  can  put  out  the  welcoming  hand,  and 
if  it  is  not  taken  we  shall,  at  least,  be  acquitted  of  coldness  and  neglect.  We 
can  pray  mightily  for  them,  but  we  must  add  to  our  prayers  the  personal  solici- 
tation. This  is  our  needed  equipment  for  winning  souls.  It  is  important  to 
have  able  preachers  in  our  pulpits,  but  more  important  to  have  consecrated 
workers  in  the  society  and  in  the  church.  The  kingdom  of  God  will  never 
come  in  all  its  strength  and  beauty  until  the  whole  rank  and  file  of  Christian 
Endeavorship  are  enlisted  in  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  sin.  We  by  no  means 
underrate  the  power  of  a  few  steady,  consecrated  souls.  We  remember  that 
many  a  battle  has  been  decided,  many  a  stronghold  has  been  carried,  by  a 
forlorn  hope.  We  remember  the  three  hundred  men  of  Gideon ;  the  single  regi- 
ment of  Garibaldi ;  the  Old  Guard  of  Napoleon  ;  the  gallant  piercing  of  the 
Austrian  ranks  and  of  his  own  brave  breast  by  Arnold  of  Winkelreid,  and  we 
are  made  sure  that  with  God  on  their  side  "  one  can  chase  a  thousand,  and  two 
can  put  ten  thousand  to  flight."  "  Yes,"  exclaimed  John  Wesley,  "  give  me  one 
hundred  men  who  fear  nothing  but  God,  who  hate  nothing  but  sin,  and  who  are 
determined  to  know  nothing  among  men  but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified, 
and  I  will  set  the  world  on  fire." 

When  Dr.  French  had  taken  his  seat,  "  Saved  by  Grace  "  was  sung 
as  a  duet  by  Miss  Mamie  Cowell  and  Mrs.  N.  T.  Elliott.  The  second 
speaker  of  the  evening  was  Rev.  Leander  S.  Keyser  of  Dayton,  O.,  a 
writer  and  speaker  well  and  favorably  known  to  Endeavorers. 

Address  of  Rev.  Leander  S.  Keyser,  Dayton,  O. 

No  man  wants  to  be  called  shallow.  Perhaps  the  shallower  a  man  is,  the 
more  he  resents  the  imputation  of  shallowness.  This  is  true  on  the  self-evident 
principle  that  the  shallow  man  is  too  superficial  even  to  sound  his  own  depths. 
He  goes  on  his  noisy,  boastful  way,  proclaiming  his  profoundness,  all  unaware 
that  other  people  see  the  shallowness  of  his  thought  and  character  in  every 
word  and  deed.  He  can  neither  see  himself  as  others  see  him  nor  as  he  really 
is.  The  turgidness  of  a  stream  may  give  it  the  appearance  of  great  depths, 
even  when  the  bottom  is  only  a  few  inches  below  the  surface. 

In  the  realm  of  thought  there  is  a  great  deal  of  superficiality.  There  needs 
to  be  a  deepening  to-day  of  the  intellectual  life. 

It  is  never  safe  to  be  dogmatic  while  you  are  young.  It  is  safe  to  hold  your 
judgment  in  abeyance  until  you  have  investigated  more  thoroughly  and  looked 


54  Official  Report  of  the 

upon  all  sides  of  a  mooted  question.  If  you  are  sure  of  the  truth  in  your  con- 
sciousness, it  is  right  to  be  positive,  but  the  supercilious  dogmatist  only  adver- 
tises the  shallowness  of  his  mental  operations. 

This  is  an  age  of  culture  —  at  least,  of  the  means  of  culture;  and  in  that 
fact  lies  a  world  of  hope  for  the  race.  But  our  bane  may  be  our  superficial 
culture.  We  may  not  drink  deep  of  the  Pierian  springs.  Having  sipped  a 
little  from  them,  we  may  fancy  that  we  have  drained  them  dry,  and  never 
return  to  them  to  find  that  their  quantity  is  inexhaustible  and  their  depths 
unfathomable.  As  a  means  of  preparation  for  the  deepening  of  the  current  of 
the  spiritual  life,  I  would  say.  Do  not  be  satisfied  with  sliallow  knowledge  if  you 
would  be  a  learner  and  help  to  solve  the  problems  of  the  age. 

From  mental  flippancy  it  is  but  a  step  to  spiritual  flippancy.  There  are  reli- 
gious butterflies  as  well  as  butterflies  of  fashion.  Their  religious  life  is  as 
shallow  as  the  mountain  brook  in  a  drought.  They  go  to  church  —  yes,  some- 
times they  do,  anyway;  but  for  all  the  good  they  receive  they  might  almost 
as  well  go  to  the  opera.  Before  the  benediction  is  pronounced,  their  thoughts 
are  gone  wool-gathering  after  fashion  or  social  conquest,  and  after  the  bene- 
diction has  been  said,  they  straightway  scatter  the  precious  fragments  of  down 
far  and  wide. 

As  a  pastor,  have  you  ever  felt  amazed  at  the  slight  impression  your  sermons 
produce  on  many  of  your  hearers  ?  Why  is  it  so.?  Because  their  spiritual  life 
is  so  shallow,  their  religious  experience  so  meagre,  their  range  of  Biblical  truth 
like  the  periphery  of  their  tiny  heads.  Do  you  wonder  that  so  little  is  done  by 
the  churches  in  comparison  to  their  numbers  in  the  tables  of  statistics?  How 
can  it  be  otherwise  when  we  know  so  little  of  Cod ;  when  our  souls  are  so 
empty  of  his  love  and  ministering  activity;  when  our  hearts  are  parched  and 
dry,  like  an  arid  desert? 

But  my  talk  must  not  take  on  the  sickly  hue  of  complaint  and  criticism.  I 
shall  put  in  the  more  cheerful  coloring  of  encouragement  and  positive  sugges- 
tion. There  is  need  of  more  spirituality  in  our  churches  to-day ;  of  a  deepening 
of  the  stream  of  individual  and  church  life.  That  is  a  proposition  too  plain  to 
need  proof.  It  has  always  been  so.  If  you  should  ask  me,  "What  is  the 
spiritual  life  ?"  I  should  reply,  "  It  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul." 

Now,  how  shall  this  life  be  deepened  ?  Where  shall  we  begin  ?  That  is  not 
easy  to  tell,  for  it  is  as  difficult  to  make  an  order  of  sanctification  as  an  order  of 
salvation.  The  free  spirit  of  God  and  his  truth  cannot  well  be  imprisoned  in 
our  cut-and-dried  systems  of  divinity.  Still,  we  may  venture  to  offer  a  few  sim- 
ple rules.     An  illustration  will  serve  our  purpose. 

Suppose  a  man  had  a  shallow  stream  on  his  farm  and  he  wanted  to  deepen 
it.  He  would  say  to  himself,  "  The  trouble  with  the  stream  is,  the  bottom  is  too 
close  to  the  surface  of  the  water."  What  is  one  of  the  things  he  would  be 
likely  to  do  first  ?  I  do  not  say  first  of  all,  for  I  do  not  know;  but  at  least  one 
of  the  first.  Well,  he  would  probably  do  some  dredging!  By  means  of  the 
proper  machinery,  he  would  let  down  the  buckets  and  scoops,  and  hoist  the 
mud  and  mire  and  sand  and  debris  up  to  the  bank,  and  thus  deepen  the  chan- 
nel and  get  down  to  rock  bottom.  Those  accumulations  suck  up  part  of  the 
water  of  Ihe  stream,  and  soil  and  poison  the  rest.  Yes,  he  removes  the  debris 
and  gives  the  stream  an  unobstructed  right  of  way. 

My  friends,  I  despair  of  turning  God's  life  into  our  souls  in  a  strong,  deep, 
healthy  current  until  there  is  some  dredging  done.  How  can  God  and  Mam- 
mon dwell  together  in  the  same  fife  and  thought  and  purpose?  Two  cannot 
walk  together  or  work  together  or  live  together  except  they  be  agreed.  If 
there  is  wilfully  cherished  sin  in  vour  life,  God  cannot—  at  least,  will  not  —  soil 
his  own  life  with  it.  Christ  had  first  to  cast  out  the  devils  before  he  could  put 
the  right  mind  and  spirit  into  the  demoniacs.  Do  you  ask  me  why  the  relig- 
ious iffe  of  so  manv  professed  disciples  of  Christ  is  so  meagre  and  unsatisfac- 
tory and  parched?  It  is  because  of  sin  in  the  heart,  sin  willingly  and  con- 
sciously harbored.  What  they  must  do  is  to  dredge,  dredge,  dredge!  As 
Isaiah  says,  "  Your  sin  separates  between  you  and  your  God." 

But  I  must  be  a  little  more  specific.     As  long  as  men  will  cherish  hatred  and 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  55 

resentment  in  their  liearts,  or  envy  of  another,  or  covetousness,  or  greed  of 
worldly  goods,  or  a  spirit  of  faulttinding,  or  selfishness,  or  doubt;  as  long  as 
they  will  be  indifferent  to  the  claims  of  God's  house  and  God's  day  and  God's 
Word,  or  to  the  claims  of  humanity;  as  long  as  they  will  resort  to  little  tricks 
of  trade  to  gain  advantage;  as  long  as  they  will  make  mere  forms  of  worship 
or  mere  religious  performances  a  substitute  for  genuine  Christlike  righteous- 
ness;— just  so  long  may  they  expect  the  fountains  of  their  spiritual  life  to  be 
dried  up.  Here  is  where  the  work  of  excision  must  come  in.  Men  must  repent 
and  forsake  their  sins,  casting  them,  root  and  branch,  out  of  their  hearts.  Said 
John  the  Baptist,  the  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  Repent,  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand."  That  was  also  the  proclamation  with  which  Christ 
began  his  earthly  ministry  :  "Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 

Brethren,  the  river  of  God's  life  and  grace  flows  only  along  the  channel  of 
righteousness.  It  is  an  ethical  stream.  For  that  reason  the  forerunner,  in  pro- 
claiming the  Messiah,  said  in  clarion  tones,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord; 
make  his  paths  straight." 

To  root  sin  from  the  heart  requires  heroic  treatment  of  self,  and  the  utter- 
most sincerity  in  scrutinizing  our  own  motives  and  secret  springs  of  life;  but  it 
is  the  only  treatment  that  will  effect  a  cure.  It  is  a  surgical  operation,  but  it  is 
necessary.  Let  us  not  be  afraid  of  God's  scalpel.  The  pure  in  heart  shall  see 
God;  no  others  can  see  him  face  to  face. 

Let  me  return  to  my  original  figure.  The  husbandman  dredges  the  shallow 
stream  on  his  farm  in  order  to  deepen  and  purify  the  current;  but  he  still  may 
have  a  small  and  shallow  stream  — a  mere  rill  dashing  over  the  pebbly  bottom. 
Is  not  something  more  necessary  to  secure  depth  and  fulness  and  power? 
Yes;  there  must  be  a  larger  flow;  more  water,  in  fact.  He  must  find  some 
strong,  inexhaustible  fountain  whose  waters  can  be  turned  into  the  channel  he 
has  opened. 

That  is  the  secret  of  a  deep,  steady,  abiding  spiritual  life, —  contact  with  the 
perennial  source  of  life  ;  and  that  source  is  God.  You  and  I  must  see  to  it 
that  the  currents  of  grace  are  turned  you-ward  and  me-ward.  We  must  go  to 
the  fountainhead  and  let  the  life  of  Christ  fill  our  life-channels.  Our  own  lives 
are  too  meagre  and  shallow ;  they  must  be  deepened  and  freshened  and 
enriched  from  the  exhaustless  urn  of  eternal  fulness. 

Now,  our  communion  with  God  must  be  a  real,  direct,  and  vital  one.  It  must 
not  come  second  or  third  hand, —  through  a  priest,  a  creed,  a  church,  or  a 
society.  These  may  be  helps  to  us,  but  they  are  not  the  sources  or  even  the 
media  of  our  spiritual  life.  Religion  is  a  personal  matter,  and  each  one  must 
come  into  direct  contact  with  the  living  Head  of  the  Church.  He  must  know 
for  himself  whether  he  has  the  Spirit's  witness,  and  must  not  take  the  word  of  a 
confessor  or  of  an  evangelist  or  a  society.  He  must  first  be  a  member  of 
Christ,  and  then  a  member  of  (iod's  visible  Church. 

Direct  communion  with  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  open  sesame  to  the  real  spir- 
itual life,  for  it  is  the  Spirit  that  searcheth  the  deep  things  of  God.  Is  your 
religious  life  poor  and  shrivelled  and  parched  .''  Then  seek  the  company  of  the 
Spirit  for  enrichment  and  refreshing. 

Do  you  ask  how  this  is  done?  It  is  a  very  simple  process.  You  may  run 
and  read.  Pray,  study  God's  Word,  do  the  Spirit's  bidding.  There  is  no  new 
or  copyrighted  way.  Christ's  parable  of  the  two  houses  — the  one  built  on  the 
sand,  the  other  on  the  rock  —  puts  the  golden  key  into  your  hand.  The  man  who 
hears  and  obeys  is  the  man  whose  house  stands;  he  who  hears  and  fails  to  obey 
is  the  man  whose  house  topples  in  the  swirl  of  the  gale. 

The  deepened  spiritual  life  leads  to  practical  results.  It  does  not  expend 
itself  merely  in  pious  meditation,  as  the  strained  efforts  of  the  mystics  did.  It 
leads  the  Endeavorer  to  greater  faithfulness  in  meeting  the  requirements  of  the 
pledge.  It  makes  him  a  better  worshipper,  a  better  church-member,  a  more 
generous  giver,  a  more  tender  sympathizer,  a  more  earnest  soul-winner,  a  more 
patriotic  and  righteous  citizen,  and  adds  every  element  that  enriches  and 
enlarges  his  Christian  manhood  and  makes   him  a  more  effective  servant  of 


56  Official  Report  of  the 

Christ  and  his  fellow  men.     And  all  the  while  this  active,  practical  devotion 
reacts  upon  his  spiritual  life,  deepening  its  channel  and  enlarging  its  current. 

My  brother,  you  can  never,  never  measure  the  reflex  influence  upon  your 
religious  life  of  giving  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  the  least  of  your  Lord's  brethren 
in  his  blessed  name. 

After  the  two  addresses,  Rev.  E.  T.  Root,  of  Baltimore,  president  of 
the  Maryland  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  took  charge  of  the  "  quiet 
hour." 

Gurley  Memorial  Church. 

The  meeting  was  opened  with  an  organ  prelude  by  Miss  Nellie  Sacrey, 
and  after  the  invocation  a  duet,  "The  Evening  Prayer,"  arranged  from 
Hemans,  was  rendered.  After  the  reading  of  the  103d  Psalm  and  the 
singing  of  a  hymn,  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening  vi^as  introduced  by 
Rev.  J.  R.  Verbrycke,  the  pastor  of  the  church.  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Garri- 
son, D.D.,  of  St.  Louis,  who  was  to  have  delivered  this  address,  had 
not  arrived,  and  Rev.  James  L.  Hill,  D.D.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
United  Society,  spoke  in  his  place  on  the  topic  of  the  evening,  "  Deep- 
ening the  Spiritual  Life."  He  dealt  first  with  what  he  called  the  great- 
est American  vice, —  timidity,  with  regard  to  the  expression  of  religious 
life.  He  contrasted  with  the  natural  boldness  of  the  American  in  all 
other  matters  his  reticence  in  declaring  his  position  concerning  spirit- 
ual affairs.  He  used  the  leaves  of  a  tree  as  an  illustration  of  the  ex- 
pression of  spiritual  life,  and  showed  that  if  the  foliage  was  destroyed 
the  tree  was  dealt  a  fatal  blow,  and  in  the  same  way  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  a  Christian's  religious  life  was  essential  to  its  well-being. 

After  a  solo  by  Miss  May  Edmonston,  "Abide  in  Me,"  by  Barter 
Johns,  Rev.  L.  R.  Dyott,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  addressed  the  audience. 

Address  of  Rev.  L.  R.  Dyott,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Christian  Endeavorers  and  church-members  in  general  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes.  First,  there  is  a  large  class  composed  of  all  who  are  below  the 
average.  Whatever  may  be  their  peculiar  expression  of  Christian  life  in  its 
entirety,  it  is  not  so  perfect  in  quality  as  the  life  of  others. 

The  second  class  is  made  of  the  average  Christians.  Their  life  is  not  so 
variable,  their  excellences  are  not  so  spasmodic,  the  evidences  of  success  in 
Christian  work  are  not  so  few ;  they  are  better,  perhaps,  than  the  majority  of 
Christians,  but  practical,  applied  Christianity  everywhere  is  not  the  main  issue 
with  them. 

The  third  class  is  the  smallest  and  the  greatest  of  the  three,  making  up  in 
quality  what  they  lack  in  quantity.  They  are  above  the  average  in  everything 
pertaining  to  the  Christian  life.  They  are  truly  good ;  but  their  goodness  is 
winsome,  and  not  repulsive.  It  is  not  inane,  awful,  pale-faced,  goody-goody 
goodness.  It  is  not  all  the  time  shaking  hands  with  self.  It  is  notself-admir- 
ative.  It  is  characteristic  of  this  class  that  they  are  not  satisfied  with  present 
attainments,  feeling  that  there  is  no  state  of  maturity  that  will  not  admit  of 
advancement. 

Christ  has  declared  spiritual  birth  to  be  the  only  condition  of  entrance  into 
the  kingdom  of  God.  "  Ye  must  be  born  again  "  is  not  a  matter  of  choice ;  it  is 
an  arbitrary  command.  It  is  the  announcement  of  an  unalterable  law.  A  per- 
son can  no  more  live  in  the  kingdom  of  God  without  being  born  into  that  king- 
dom than  he  can  live  in  the  natural  world  without  being  born  into  it.  These 
premises  are  unchangeable.     What,  then,  is  the  conclusion  1    Shall  we  make 


FifteeritJi  International  Convention.  57 

the  sweeping,  harsh  assertion  that  only  they  are  Christians  who  are  beyond  the 
average?  No,  emphatically  no.  They  may,  indeed,  be  Christians,  but  we 
must  conclude  that  if  they  are  they  have  spiritual  life. 

All  created  life,  from  a  blade  of  grass  to  the  highest  archangel  that  flashes 
his  wings  in  the  ineffable  light  of  the  glorious  throne  of  God,  all  created  life 
everywhere,  is  determined  by  three  things;  viz.,  its  nature,  its  environments,  and 
its  limitations.  I  know  that  a  fascinating  philosophy  teaches  that  we  are  creatures 
of  environment.  There  are  elements  of  truth  in  it.  You  were  born  of  Christian 
parents  and  reared  under  Christian  influences.  At  the  same  time  you  were 
born,  there  came  an  innocent  babe  into  a  drunkard's  home.  He  was  born 
under  a  parental  curse.  He  grew  in  the  most  wicked  surroundings.  He  was 
affected  by  them.  Environments  did  that.  But  this  law  is  not  fundamental. 
Nature  is  stronger  than  environment.  You  may  plant  the  weed  among  the 
roses.  Give  it  the  same  sunlight  and  air.  Let  the  same  showers  refresh  it. 
Let  the  same  sunlight  flash  life  about  it,  but  it  is  still  a  weed.  You  may  plant 
a  rose  among  the  weeds,  and  they  may  seek  to  hide  it;  they  may,  possibly, 
even  kill  it,  but  all  the  weeds  in  creation  cannot  make  a  weed  of  a  rose.  It  is 
still  a  rose  —  to  the  day  of  its  death  it  is  still  a  rose.  Among  human  beings  the 
same  law  is  dominant  and  pervasive. 

Disease  in  life  and  abnormality  in  development  are  fearful  periods.  But 
havoc  may  be  averted.  Remove  the  hot  rocks.  Let  the  gentle  rain  and  the 
gracious  dew  soften  the  soil.  Let  the  mighty  life  go  very  deep.  Let  the  sun 
whisper  through  the  earth  sweet  messages  of  heaven.  Lo  !  the  earth  bursts. 
Life  breathes!  All  is  joy.  Downward,  upward,  inward,  outward,  onward, 
Godward.     Oh,  who  can  tell  the  blessed  possibilities  of  such  life  ! 

Deeper  spiritual  life  must  be  in  contact  with  human  needs.  It  becomes 
stronger  through  duty  well  done.  It  craves  private  devotion  —  indeed,  it  can 
not  do  without  that,  but  its  co-relation  is  in  practical  life.  It  refuses  to  be  shut 
in  a  cloister. 

Deeper  spiritual  life  is  found  through  duty  intelligently  met,  cheerfully 
borne,  faithfully  done. 

Mr.  Harry  A.  Kinports,  of  New  York,  conducted  a  "  quiet  hour," 
and  asked  those  in  the  audience  to  search  their  hearts  for  secret  faults. 
This  period  was  brought  to  a  close  with  an  earnest  prayer,  and  the 
congregation  dismissed  with  a  benediction. 

Nineteenth  Street  Baptist  Church. 

When  the  time  for  opening  the  meeting  at  the  Nineteenth  Street 
Baptist  Church  arrived  an  audience  numbering  some  twelve  hundred 
filled  to  excess  the  large  auditorium  and  surrounding  galleries. 

The  exercises  were  opened  by  the  singing  of  Hymn  No.  5,  "  Words 
of  Cheer,"  followed  by  the  reading  by  the  congregation  of  the  familiar 
twenty-third  Psalm,  beginning  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd,  I  shall  not 
want."  Prayer  was  then  offered  that  the  meeting  might  be  productive 
of  much  good  for  Christ  and  the  Church,  and  that  the  Convention 
prove  a  source  of  abundant  blessing,  not  to  this  city  only,  but  to  the 
various  states,  territories,  and  countries  represented  here  by  delegates. 

The  "  Invocation  Hymn,"  written  by  Col.  John  Hay,  was  next  sung 
by  the  large  choir  of  the  church,  and  at  its  conclusion  the  pastor,  Rev. 
W.  H.  Brooks,  D.D.,  made  the  following  address  of  welcome  :  — 

My  name  appears  upon  this  programme  not  to  speak,  but  to  preside,  and 
one  of  the  qualifications  of  a  good  presiding  officer  is  that  he  shall  not  have 
much  to  say.     I  shall,  therefore,  make  my  words  few  this  evening.     Neverthe- 


58  Official  Report  of  the 

less,  it  becomes  me  as  pastor  of  this  church  to  extend  a  hearty  welcome  to  all 
who  are  present  to-night,  and  to  beseech  you,  as  the  speakers  shall  come  before 
you,  to  lift  up  your  hearts  in  silent  prayer  to  God  that  the  Spirit  present  may 
be  made  manifest  in  their  utterances,  and  that  the  truths  spoken  may  be  so 
delivered,  and  may  so  impress  each  one,  that  when  these  speakers  shall  have 
returned  to  their  several  homes,  and  when  this  Convention  shall  have  finished 
its  work,  and  its  tents  shall  have  been  folded  and  borne  to  some  other  place, 
there  shall  abide  with  us  leavening  influences  which  shall  make  us  nobkr  and 
happier  men  and  women,  and  that  as  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  we  may 
have  learned  to  take  in  more  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Those  of  you  who  have 
watched  the  appropriations  made  by  Congress  from  year  to  year  are  aware  of 
the  fact  that  many  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  spent  for  the  purpose  of 
deepening  and  widening  certain  rivers,  so  that  seafaring  barks  might  go  into 
certain  ports.  I  can  fancy  that  the  great  object  of  these  twenty-odd  meetings 
to-night  is  to  widen  and  deepen  the  human  heart,  so  that  there  shall  be  a 
greater  fulness  and  richness  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  us.  It  is  a  question  of 
our  capacity.  We  are  strong  Christians.  We  are  noble  Christians.  We 
are  useful  Christians.  But  we  are  these  only  in  proportion  to  tlie  amount 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  that  is  in  us,  molding  our  thoughts,  our  sentiments, 
and  determining  our  destiny.  Oh  that  the  Spirit  of  God  may  come  upon 
us  all  as  we  mingle  together  as  Endeavorers  and  Christians!  If  we  shall 
go  from  this  place  to-night  thanking  God  that  we  have  liad  a  feast  of  Pente- 
cost, the  Lord  will  be  praised  and  we  shall  be  blessed  indeed. 

After  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  Rev.  P.  Thomas  Stanford,  D.D.,  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  was  introduced  as  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening.  He 
took  as  the  basis  of  his  remarks  the  sixth  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  of 
the  gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew,  as  follows  :  — 

Address  of  Rev.  P.  Thomas  Stanford,  D.D.,  Boston,  flass. 

It  is  customary  in  the  Arabian  desert  for  the  travellers,  on  reaching  a  spring, 
to  leave  a  portion  of  food,  so  that  if  any  unfortunate  traveller  should  happen  to 
visit  the  spring  he  would  not  only  find  water,  but  food  also. 

A  traveller,  making  his  journey,  was  hindered  for  several  days  by  sand-storms 
and  many  other  difiiculties,  and  when  he  had  got  a  long  way  from  the  place  of 
rest  his  food  gave  out,  but,  knowing  the  custom,  he  pressed  on,  hoping  to  find 
a  spring.  At  last,  when  so  weak  he  could  scarcely  walk,  he  spied  a  spring  and 
used  the  last  bit  of  strength  he  had  left  in  reaching  it.  He  looked  about  for  food. 
He  saw  the  little  leather  bucket  in  which  food  is  usually  kept.  He  seized  it 
and  took  out  what  he  supposed  to  be  a  bundle  containing  eatables,  but  to  his 
grief  and  surprise,  instead  of  food,  the  bundle  contained  pearls  of  the  first 
water,  valuing  some  hundreds  of  pounds  —  and  his  body  was  found  clutching  the 
bag.     He  died  of  starvation. 

Humanely  speaking,  hunger  and  thirst  are  not  blessings,  but  great  enemies, 
against  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  battling  every  day.  This  world  is  a 
battle-field. 

When  we  are  hungry  we  desire  food,  and  when  we  are  thirsty  we  desire 
drink.  Nothing  but  food  for  the  hungry,  nothing  but  water  for  the  thirsty. 
Gold  is  despised  for  bread.  The  desire  of  food  to  the  hungry  creates  and 
increases  the  burning  fever  of  death.  The  oppressed  will  use  every  endeavor 
to  obtain  it.  The  great  and  good  John  Bright  said,  "  He  that  withholds  bread 
from  the  poor,  the  nation  will  curse  him.  To  offer  them  riches  is  to  mock  at 
their  misery." 

Our  Lord  and  Saviour  was  a  very  practical  preacher.  In  all  cases,  as  in  this, 
he  presented  the  truth  and  worth  of  the  Gospel  in  such  a  way  that  it  enforced 
its  own  conclusions.  How  to  show  more  clearly  what  I  mean,  let  us  read  the 
text  again  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for 
they  shall  be  filled; "  filled  with  joy  and  peace  through  believing. 

The  good  Shepherd  will  lead  them  into  green  pastures,  and  make  them  to  lie 


FiftcentJi  Intematioiial  Convention.  59 

down  beside  still  waters;  and  they  shall  be  fed  with  all  the  superabundance  of 
the  Gospel  feast. 

This  text  may  serve  to  comfort  the  hearts  of  those  who  do  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness.  I  doubt  not  that  it  is  the  grief  of  many  that  they  cannot 
serve  God  better  Jesus  says  blessed  are  those;  though  thou  hast  not  much 
righteousness  as  thou  would  like,  yet  thou  art  blessed  because  thou  hunyerest 
after  it.  The  old  saying  is  that  actions  are  louder  than  words,  but  actions  may 
be  counterfeited  for  compulsion.  Desire  is  the  best  discovery  of  Christian 
graces.  There  are  many  forced  Christians,  forced  fruit,  very  beautiful,  but 
affected  at  the  core.  Some  Christians  have  nothing  but  desires ;  but  it  is  highly 
important  that  those  desires  be  put  into  effect.  Let  it  be  observed  that  hunger- 
ing and  thirsting  after  righteousness  proceeds  from  love.  If  thou  didst  not 
love  Christ  thou  couldst  not  desire  him. 

The  doubts  and  fears  to  be  fought  against:  — 

Objection:  '"If  my  hunger  were  of  the  right  kind,  then  I  could  take  comfort 
of  it;  but  I  fear  it  is  counterfeit.     Hypocrites  have  desires." 

That  I  may  the  better  settle  a  doubting  Christian,  I  shall  show  the  difference 
between  a  true  and  false  desire,  spiritual  and  carnal  hunger. 

F'irst,  the  hypocrite  does  not  desire  grace  on  its  own  account,  but  only  as  a 
bridge  to  lead  him  over  to  heaven.  So  Balaam  said,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of 
the  righteous."  The  believer  desires  grace  on  its  own  account,  and  Christ  for 
himself  purely. 

Second,  the  hypocrite's  desire  is  conditional ;  he  wants  heaven  and  his  sins  ; 
but  Christ's  conditions  are  opposed  to  sins. 

Third,  the  hypocrite's  desires  are  but  desires  and  destitute  of  activity.  Not  so 
with  the  true  Christian.  Illustration:  The  eagle  and  its  prey;  he  is  hungry. 
True  desire  carries  the  soul  swift  to  holy  ordinance,  communion,  and  those  who 
take  it  not. 

Fourth,  the  hypocrite's  desires  are  transient,  or  like  a  hot  fire.  They  are  soon 
over.  They  commence  under  sorrow  and  affliction.  When  better  all  is  over. 
True  desire  is  constant.  The  Greek  word  is  in  the  participle,  —  "Blessed  are 
they  that  are  hungering;  though  they  have  righteousness,  yet  they  are  hunger- 
ing for  more."  The  hypocrite's  desire  is  like  the  motion  of  a  watch;  it  soon 
runs  down;  but  that  of  a  believer  is  like  that  of  a  breathing  pulse  —  lasts  as 
long  as  life.  It  is  like  the  unextinguished  fire  of  the  temple,  ever  burning  in 
holy  affections. 

Objection :  "  But,  my  hunger  after  righteousness  is  so  weak,  I  fear  that  it  is 
not  of  the  true  kind." 

The  pulse  beats  but  weakly,  yet  if  it  does  beat  it  shows  there  is  life.  Weak 
desires  are  not  to  be  discouraged.  The  believer  may  estimate  his  spiritual 
state  by  his  judgment,  as  well  as  by  his  affections.  Religion  consists  not  in 
an  endeavor  to  flee  from  hell,  or  in  strenuous  struggles  to  attain  heaven,  but  in 
loving  and  practising  goodness  for  its  own  sake,  so  loving  holiness  and  right  as 
to  have  perils,  endure  sufferings,  and  forego  joys,  if  necessary,  in  their  behalf. 

Objection  :  "But,"  says  the  believer,  "I  have  not  the  earnest  hunger  that  I  once 
had.     Where  is  the  blessedness.-^" 

Jt  is,  indeed,  a  bad  sign  for  a  person  to  lose  his  appetite.  Spiritually,  it 
indicates  a  decay  of  grace.  But  it  is  a  very  good  sign  to  bewail  its  loss.  "  Ye 
shall  be  fed."  A  Kaffir  boy,  twelve  years  of  age,  was  asked,  when  he  came  to 
the  miserable  settlement  of  the  Moravians,  which  did  he  like  best,  his  home  or 
the  Christians'.''  At  home  he  had  meat  and  milk;  here  he  could  not  get  either. 
Said  he,  "  I  wish  to  become  a  child  of  God,  so  I  do  not  care  how  I  have  to 
live."  To  test  the  sincerity  of  a  number  of  poor,  distressed,  starving  beggars, 
a  gentleman  in  Scotland  opened  a  shop  in  a  locality  where  they  resided  and  had 
a  sign  put  over  the  door,  which  read  as  follows :  "  Walk  in,  take,  eat,  and  live." 
The  proprietor  said  to  all  who  entered,  "  Well,  what  is  your  trouble  ? "  "I  am 
hungry."  "  What  is  this?  "  "Bread."  "  What  do  you  know  about  it?"  While 
one  was  debating  its  origin,  its  growth,  etc.,  he  fainted  and  died ;  the  last  rushed 
in  like  mad,  seized  the  bread,  ate,  and  lived.     So  with  the  Word  of  God. 


60  Official  Report  of  the 

The  address  of  Dr.  Stanford,  which  had  evidently  made  a  deep 
impression  on  all  present,  was  in  turn  followed  by  the  singing  of  Hymn 
No.  159,  "True-Hearted,  Whole- Hearted."  Dr.  Brooks  then  rose  to 
say  he  had  received  a  letter  from  Rev.  J.  W.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, O.,  in  which  he  intimated  that  he  might  be  prevented  from 
appearing,  but  at  this  point  Dr.  Hamilton  himself  arrived,  and  on 
being  introduced  to  the  audience,  said  :  — 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  Cincinnati,  O. 

Mr.  President,  Sisters  and  Brothers  :  —  I  have  come  all  the  way  here  from 
Cincinnati  to  be  with  you  to-night.  I  was  afraid  I  might  not  be  able  to  reach 
this  place  in  time  for  this  meeting.  As  some  of  you  possibly  know,  I  am  the 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Educational 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  is  the  only  denominational 
organization,  I  may  say,  with  a  bit  of  encouragement  to  you,  which  has  a 
co-ordinate  associate  secretary  who  is  black.  We  have  opened  the  doors  of 
our  church,  and  one  of  the  highest  officers  elected  by  our  General  Conference 
at  Cleveland  was  one  of  your  own  color.  Yesterday  our  first  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Conference,  which 
has  just  closed  at  Cleveland,  met  in  Cincinnati.  I  had  my  train  and  my  sleeper 
already  engaged,  so  as  to  leave  for  Washington  promptly,  but  the  meeting  kept 
on  and  the  train  came  on  and  left  me  behind.  I  put  what  I  had  on  paper,  so 
that  1  might  have  it  read  to  you  if  I  failed  to  get  here,  as  1  am  not  in  the  habit 
of  disappointing  an  audience  if  possible  to  avoid  it,  but  when  I  found  that 
another  train  would  get  me  here  in  time,  I  concluded  to  keep  the  paper  and 
bring  it  myself. 

[We  regret  that  Dr.  Hamilton's  manuscript  has  not  reached  us  in  time  for 
print.] 

After  the  addresses  of  Rev.  P.  Thomas  Stanford,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  J. 
W.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  a  "quiet  hour"  was  conducted  by  William  T.  Ellis, 
of  Boston,  one  of  the  editors  of  The  Golde?i  Rule. 

Church  of  the  Covenant. 

The  Endeavorers  who  met  at  the  Church  of  the  Covenant  on  Wed- 
nesday evening  could  not  wait  for  eight  o'clock  to  arrive  before 
expressing  their  enthusiasm.  Long  before  the  opening,  Buffalo's 
delegation,  numbering  nearly  seventy-five,  but  who  seemed  in  strength 
of  voice  many  more,  started  up  "  Hail  Buffalo,"  air  "  Maryland,  My 
Maryland,"  then  following  "At  the  Cross,"  in  which  all  of  the  audi- 
ence joined,  with  "Jesus  Washed  My  Sins  Away"  and  "  Anywhere, 
My  Saviour  "  and  the  Convention  favorite,  "  Scatter  Sunshine."  The 
audience  was  in  a  most  excellent  condition  at  the  opening  to  appreciate 
the  addresses. 

On  account  of  an  important  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Dr. 
Hamlin  was  unable  to  welcome  to  his  church  the  several  delegations 
who  made  headquarters  at  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  The  Rev. 
Joseph  T.  Kelley,  pastor  of  the  Ninth  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
a  few  brief  remarks  stated  how  pleased  they  were  to  welcome  so  many 
bright  faces. 

Scripture  was  read  by  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.  Webster,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 


FifteentJi  biternational  Cojivention.  61 

Church  of  Hoosic   Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  S.  W. 
Pratt,  of  New  York. 

The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  C.  A.  Barbour,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
president  of  the  New  York  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 

Address  of  Rev.  Clarence  A.  Barbour,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

For  deepening  the  spiritual  life  the  means  are  manifold.  I  cannot  hope  to 
touch  more  than  a  single  phase  of  tlie  subject  —  only  one  out  of  many  means. 
This  can  be  safely  said  :  A  spiritual  life,  which  is  lived  victoriously  for  the 
Lord  Jesus,  will  ever  become  more  strong  and  deep.  I  love  to  think  of  the 
Christian  religion  as  a  military  religion,  one  in  which  the  elements  of  battle  and 
of  victory  are  found.  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  peace,  but  also  a  book  of  war. 
The  war-song  sounds  from  many  of  its  pages.  Not  always  are  its  heroic  men 
men  of  peace.  Joshua,  David,  Elijah,  Peter — these  were  not  men  whose  lives 
floated  on  in  a  peaceful  current.  Tlie  angels  at  Bethlehem  at  the  birth  of  the 
Saviour  did  indeed  sing,  "  Peace  on  earth,  good-will  toward  men,"  but  that  same 
Saviour  whose  birth  the  angels  heralded  said,  "  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a 
sword."  In  its  description  of  the  Christian  life  the  Bible  has  much  to  say  of 
conflict,  conquest,  victory.  Surely  it  is  well  that  this  is  so.  There  are 'chords 
in  the  human  heart  that  vibrate  to  these  words  alone,  and  from  them  come  the 
strains  of  inspiring  martial  music.  The  conflict  in  spiritual  life  is  between 
"  that  which  is  born  of  God  "  and  "  the  world."  Let  us  mention  three  wrong 
conceptions  of  the  meaning  of  this  phrase,  "the  world;"  three  which  the 
Apostle  John  does  not  mean  when  he  says,  "  Love  not  the  world."  He  does 
not  mean  the  world  of  nature,  with  its  trees,  and  grass,  and  flowers,  and  sun- 
shine. I  pity  the  man  who  can  go  from  the  dusty  and  crowded  city  to  the 
green  fields  and  quiet  of  the  country  and  not  have  his  soul  thrilled  with  the 
beauty  of  the  world  in  which  Cod  has  placed  him.  The  one  who  can  look 
upon  the  mighty  forests  without  having  his  whole  nature  respond  to  the  voice 
of  God  is  not  rightly  constituted.  The  one  who  can  look  upon  the  sea  and  not 
be  drawn  nearer  to  God  is  out  of  touch  with  the  voice  of  God  in  nature.  The 
apostle  does  not  mean,either.  our  fellow  men  when  he  says,  "Love  not  the  world." 
The  hermit  life  is  a  coward  life.  The  Bible  nowhere  prohibits  love  toward 
our  fellow  men.  True,  human  love  is  elevating,  ennobling.  God  would  not 
take  our  love  from  those  about  us.  John  does  not  mean,  either,  our  vocation, 
our  trade,  our  occupation.  But  it  is  easy  to  say  what  an  expression  does  not 
mean.  Now,  what  does  it  mean.?  The  thing  or  combination  of  things  in  the 
individual  life  which  tends  to  draw  the  heart  away  from  God,  to  usurp  God's 
place,  to  set  itself  as  the  chief  end  of  life  and  the  chief  object  of  worship. 
With  such  a  definition,  no  one  can  deny  that  there  is  conflict  between  that 
which  is  born  of  God  and  the  world.  In  this  conflict  victory  is  possible,  for  we 
are  assured,  "Whoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world."  At  the  close  of 
our  long  and  cruel  war  there  marched  down  this  magnificent  avenue  veterans, 
all  powder-blackened  and  dusty,  carrying  the  dear  old  shot-torn  flags  —  flags 
which,  thank  God,  wave  to-day  over  a  united  country.  The  people  shouted 
their  welcome  with  cheer  upon  cheer  to  those  who  had  conquered  on  the  field 
of  battle.  Ah,  what  a  greater  review  is  coming  when  the  armies  of  the  universe 
shall  march  in  great  review  before  the  Great  Commander  ;  when  standards 
shall  be  lowered  to  him,  and  on  that  day  he  shall  say,  "Ye  are  my  well  be- 
loved ;  ye  who  have  overcome !  "  The  Scripture  gives  us  means  of  victory. 
Faith  enables  us  to  conquer  by  giving  us  the  conviction  necessary  to  progress, 
by  assuring  us  of  certain  triumph. 

The  next  speaker  came  from  Ohio,  and  was  cordially  received. 

Address  of  Rev.  C.  L.  Work,  D.D.,  Cincinnati,  O. 

The  fulness  of  spiritual  life  lies  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  from  him  that  we  get 
our  spiritual  life.     Deepening  the  spiritual  life  means  the  clearing-away  of  the 


62  Official  Report  of  tJie 

rubbish  and  a  removing  of  all  the  obstacles  which  lie  in  the  way  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  complete  possession  of  all  our  powers  of  body  and  soul,  our  minds,  our 
wills,  our  affections.  We  cannot  for  one  moment  think  that  there  is  any  halt- 
ing or  hesitancy  on  the  part  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  matter  of  leading  men 
and  women  except  as  there  may  be  cause  for  it  on  the  part  of  men  and 
women  themselves.  In  the  Spirit's  leadership  is  involved  full  surrender  on  our 
part.  We  are  not  our  own  ;  our  bodies,  our  spirits,  and  all  powers  of  both  are 
the  Lord's.  I  have  no  right  to  entertain  a  single  thought  that  is  not  suggested 
by  the  Spirit.  I  must  be  as  fully  at  the  disposal  of  the  Spirit  as  was  Paul,  when, 
on  his  second  missionary  tour,  he  essayed  to  go  into  Bithynia,  but  the  Spirit 
sent  him  over  into  Macedonia.  It  is  only  into  the  surrendered  life  that  the 
Spirit  can  put  whatever  he  may  please,  as  may  be  seen  by  him  to  be  necessary 
for  the  advancement  of  his  cause  among  men.  It  was  into  the  surrendered  life 
of  Paul  that  the  Spirit  put  that  stormy  voyage  on  the  Mediterranean,  with  ship- 
wreck on  the  Island  of  Malta.  Into  that  life  he  put  also  the  rod,  the  stoning, 
the  Philippian  jail,  with  its  midnight  song,  and,  finally,  beheadmenton  the  bank 
of  the  Tiber.  But  what  man  ever  trod  the  earth  that  was  the  instrument  in  the 
hand  of  God  in  lifting  the  world  nearer  to  heaven  that  the  once  suffering  but 
now  gloriously  sainted  Paul?  Leadership  of  the  Spirit  involves  his  choice  of 
life's  work  and  conditions  for  the  saints.  The  undisputed  leadership  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  will  result  in  a  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  of  God's  people. 
We  are  exhorted  in  the  Scriptures  not  to  quench  the  Spirit.  We  are  exhorted 
to  desist  from  all  actions,  states,  and  conditions  of  soul  as  would  hinder  the 
Spirit  from  doing  his  work  in  and  upon  us,  and  through  us  in  our  religious  life. 
We  need  in  our  churches  and  in  our  individual  lives  a  good  old-fashioned  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  need  such  revivals  in  this  country  as  swept 
over  Scotland  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  over  our  own  land  in  the  first  part 
of  this  century.  In  those  days  men  and  women  fell  down  before  the  preached 
word  as  if  cut  down  in  battled  The  Presbyterian  Church  was  born  in  a  revival 
under  the  preachings  of  Calvin  and  Knox  in  Edinburgh;  the  Methodist  Church 
grew  out  of  a  revival  under  the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys ;  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  grew  out  of  a  revival  in  the  early  part  of  this  century  in 
the  South  ;  the  Lutheran  Church  grew  out  of  a  revival  under  the  preaching  of 
Luther;  and  so  the  world  has  been  blessed  by  the  state  of  religious  fervor 
known  as  revival.  We  need  a  higher  grace  of  spiritual  life  in  order  that  we 
may  have  more  power  with  God  and  man.  We  need  it  that  we  may  have 
revival;  we  need  it  that  we  may  do  better  work  in  the  line  of  missions;  we  need 
it  that  we  may  live  in  the  spiritual  life,  for  without  it  we  shall  surely  die. 

The  service  was  brought  to  a  close  by  Rev.  Ford  C.  Ottman,  of  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  who,  under  God's  leadership,  led  all  to  a  closer  walk  with 
Jesus  Christ. 

West  Street  Presbyterian  Church. 

There  was  a  large  attendance  at  the  Christian  Endeavor  meeting  at 
the  West  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  The  large  church  was  filled, 
and  the  members  of  the  Maine  delegation,  two  hundred  strong,^  the 
headquarters  of  which  are  at  the  church,  attended  the  services  in  a 
body. 

The  church  was  tastefully  decorated.  Over  the  altar-a  large  frame 
was  hung,  in  which  was  the  motto  :  "  For  Christ  and  the  Church," 
and  on  the  wall  in  the  rear  were  two  frames  of  a  similar  nature  con- 
taining the  words,  "  Do  great  things  for  God,"  and  "  Expect  great 
things  from  God."  On  each  side  of  the  altar  were  draped  like  cur- 
tains two  immense  American  flags. 

In  the  Sunday-school  room  of  the  chapel  adjoining,  the  decorations 


FiftecntJi  Internatiotial  Convention.  63 

suggested  the  Pine-tree  State.  The  chapel  was  used  as  the  head- 
quarters of  the  visiting  delegates,  and  had  been  furnished  accordingly. 

Members  of  the  church  expressed  the  opinion  that  their  decorations 
excelled  in  extent  and  splendor  those  of  any  church  in  the  city.  Thirty 
barrels  of  pine-cones  shipped  from  Maine  had  been  used.  Green  and 
gray  are  the  colors  of  the  Pine-tree  State,  and  drapery  of  those  hues 
had  been  lavishly  used  in  the  adornment  of  the  chapel. 

The  pastor  of  the  church,  Rev.  Dr.  William  C.  Alexander,  presided 
and  introduced  the  speakers.  The  first  address  was  delivered  by  Rev. 
W.  H.  Towers,  of  Manchester,  England,  a  member  of  the  National 
Council  of  Christian  Endeavor  of  Great  Britian. 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Towers,  Manchester,  England. 

To-night  I  regret  to  occupy  the  place  of  another  Englishman,  the  Rev.  J. 
Holden  Byles,  who  is  sick,  and  whose  physician  forbids  him  to  travel  for  the 
present.  Mr.  Byles  is  an  eminent  Congregational  minister,  and  out  of  a  larger  ex- 
perience of  Christian  work  and  life  would  have  spoken  to  you  words  of  greater 
edification  and  helpfulness  than  I  can  hope  to  accomplish.  However,  my  hope 
rests  upon  God,  and  if  he  shall  guide  me,  maybe  I  shall  not  speak  in  vain  in  the 
Lord. 

First  of  all,  sirs,  I  rejoice  to  be  here  as  a  representative  from  the  Old  Coun- 
try. In  England  and  Scotland  and  in  gallant  little  Wales  the  Christian  En- 
deavor movement  has  come  to  be  a  factor  in  the  religious  life  of  the  people. 
We  have  now  upwards  of  3,000  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  these  are 
winning  for  themselves  golden  opinions  everywhere. 

Some  six  or  eight  months  ago,  when  there  arose  a  cry  of  alarm  that  the  two 
great  Anglo-.Saxon  races  on  the  Eastern  and  Western  Hemispheres  might  suffer 
a  rupture  in  their  friendly  relationships,  and  there  was  wild  talk  of  some  remote 
possibility  of  these  two  great  Christian  countries  coming  to  war,  the  Christian 
spirit  —  which  we  are  sure  is  at  all  times  the  best  promoter  of  peace— I  say  the 
Christian  spirit  prompted  our  British  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
to  send  the  first  word  of  greeting  to  our  American  brethren,  which  spoke  of 
peace  and  good-will  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  peace.  We  hope  and  pray 
that  the  day  may  never  come  when  these  two  mighty  peoples  shall  so  far  forget 
themselves  and  the  principles  of  good-will  and  the  Christ-King  as  to  draw  the 
sword  upon  each  other.  I  can  conceive  of  no  greater  calamity  than  that.  My 
brother  Americans,  your  race  and  mine  belong  to  each  other;  the  very  warp  and 
woof  of  our  common  history  are  of  the  same  thread;  our  language  and  liter- 
ature and  interests  are  identical,  and  the  same  noble  Protestant  faith,  the  same 
grand  old  holy  Bible,  and  the  same  Cross  of  Calvary  combine,  like  the  mighty 
strands  in  an  unbreakable  cable,  to  bind  us  together  in  the  bonds  of  eternal 
brotherhood  and  peace.  War  between  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  races  would 
be  a  spectacle  to  cause  men  and  angels  to  weep,  and  would  make  a  jubilee 
nowhere  but  in  hell. 

My  conviction  is  we  shall  have  no  war.  If,  in  our  diplomatic  relationships, 
we  find  misunderstandings  arising,  we  have  a  more  Christian  remedy  than  war. 
We  have  the  appeal  to  the  Tribunal  of  Reason ;  and  ever  since  the  Right  Hon. 
W.  E.  Gladstone  submitted  to  arbitration  on  the  "Alabama"  claims,  I  feel  pretty 
confident  my  country  will  never  be  ashamed  or  afraid  of  arbitration,  and  that 
especially  with  our  kith  and  kin  on  this  American  continent.  Oh,  in  the  name  of 
Christianity  and  civilization  and  progress,  and  in  the  name  of  this  great  Inter- 
national Christian  Endeavor  brotherhood,  let  us  pray  God  to  scatter  the  people 
who  delight  in  war  ! 

I  now  have  to  turn  to  the  topic  in  hand.  It  is  one  of  fitting  moment  for  the 
commencement  of  this  great  Convention.  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  when  he  made 
man  in  his  own  image,  he  made  him  spirit,  soul,  and  body.     And  when,  in  his 


64  Official  Report  of  the 

infinite  love,  he  redeemed  us  through  the  life  and  death  of  his  Divine  Son, 
Jesus  Christ,  he  redeemed  us  spirit,  soul,  and  body. 

These  bodies  of  ours  are  his  by  creative  and  redemptive  right.  The  physi- 
cal powers  of  a  man  ought  to  be  to  the  glory  of  God.  You  have  sent  your  Yale 
crew  to  England  to  compete  on  the  river  Thames  for  the  prize  of  pre-eminence. 
I  hope  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  in  America  and  in  England  and 
throughout  the  whole  wide  world,  will  ever  develop  the  muscular  powers  of  its 
membership,  for  the  soul  and  spirit  of  a  man  are  always  helped  by  the  good 
sound  house  they  live  in. 

Neither  must  we  neglect  the  training  of  the  mind.  It  has  been  well  said,  "  The 
mind 's  the  standard  of  the  man  ; "  and  it  is  true.  Let  everything  that  ennobles 
the  understanding,  that  gives  power  to  the  brain,  and  that  crowns  youth  with 
the  diadem  of  wisdom  be  earnesdy  sought  after  by  the  Endeavorer.  The 
gymnasium  and  the  college,  the  arena  of  athletics  and  literature,  are  open 
before  us  for  the  proper  development  of  mind  and  body. 

It  now  remains  for  me  to  touch  upon  the  spiritual  aspect  of  man's  tripartite 
nature.  Many  of  us  remember,  dear  brothers  and  sisters,  how  we  have  been 
born  anew.  Our  former  life,  which  was  lived  under  the  domination  of  sin,  has 
been  changed  by  the  wonderful  power  of  God;  old  habits,  old  tastes,  old 
companions,  have  been  given  up  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
reigns  as  king  in  our  hearts;  and  our  grandest  ideal  now  is  to  be  like  Jesus. 
Here,  in  this  first  assembly,  let  it  be  our  intense  and  earnest  prayer  that  we 
may  see  no  man,  save  Jesus  only;  then  shall  we  drink  in  of  his  Spirit  and  be 
baptized  with  power  from  on  high.  Our  life  should  be  like  the  aim  of  the 
great  sculptor  Thorwaldsen,  who  endeavored  to  chisel  out  of  a  rugged  block  of 
pure  Cilician  marble  a  statue  of  the  Christ.  Reworked  long  and  he  worked 
hard  at  his  task,  and  at  last  he  finished  the  work.  He  then  called  a  little  child 
to  his  studio,  in  order  to  know  if  he  had  succeeded  in  making  a  masterpiece; 
iDut  the  child  could  not  name  a  person  to  correspond  with  the  statue,  and 
Thorwaldsen  found  he  had  failed.  He  set  to  work  again,  however,  and 
wrought  out  another  statue,  more  delicate  and  more  feeling  and  more  beautiful 
than  the  first ;  and  when  it  was  finished  it  instantly  struck  the  little  child,  and 
with  the  utmost  reverence  she  placed  her  little  throbbing  hands  on  the  cold, 
white  feet  of  the  statue,  and  said,  '-This  is  He  who  said,  '  Suffer  little  chil- 
dren to  come.'  "  Fellow  Endeavorers,  do  the  children  see  the  Christlikeness  in 
us  ?     That  is  why  we  are  here  for  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life. 

Another  reason  why  we  are  here  is  to  enable  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  to  shed 
a  light  upon  our  life.  We  want,  very  solemnly  and  very  earnestly,  to  let  God 
try  us.  Like  the  Psalmist,  we  cry  out,  "  Search  me,  O  God,  and  know  my 
heart:  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts  :  and  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in 
me."  Our  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  binds  us  to  do  all  Christ  would  like  to 
have  us  do;  and  if  in  the  solemn  gathering  of  to-night  God  should  put  his 
finger  upon  some  part  of  our  life  and  tell  us  it  is  sin,  we  shall  not  be  loyal  En- 
deavorers if  we  do  not  give  it  up.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  a  spirit  of  burning,  of 
judgment;  and  if  he  shall  hurt  us,  it  is  only  that  we  may  be  healed  and  made 
more  meek  for  Christ's  most  blessed  service.  Do  you  ask,  my  dear  fellow 
Endeavorer,  how  we  may  have  more  of  the  Holy  Spirit.?  I  answer.  Have  faith 
in  him.  Read  in  i  Cor.  vi.  19,  —  "'What?  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye  are 
not  your  own  }  " 

The  second  address  of  the  evening  was  delivered  by  Rev.  J.  L, 
Withrow,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  Chicago,  111.,  moderator  of  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly.  His  address  was  on  the  subject  of  the  evening, 
"The  Deepening  of  Spiritual  Life,"  and  was  well  worded,  maintaining 
the  strict  attention  of  the  audience. 

The  "quiet  hour"  service  lasted  only  fifteen  minutes,  and  was  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Turner,  of  Dover,  Del,  president  of  the 
Delaware  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 


CALIFORNIA  Booth  in  the  Convention  Business  Headquarters. 


I      ._J 


Interior  of  Tent  williston  During  the  Junior  Rally. 


Fifteenth  Liternational  Convcntio7i.  65 

Congress  Street  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 

The  meeting  at  the  Congress  Street  Methodist  Protestant  Church 
was  well  attended,  considering  the  weather.  This  was  the  first  time 
the  church  was  opened  to  the  visiting  Endeavorers,  and  the  decorations 
for  the  occasion  were  pretty,  especially  the  central  decorations  hanging 
from  the  large  centre  chandelier. 

Rev.  W.  S.  Hammond,  D.D.,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  was  scheduled 
to  preside.  He  appeared  at  the  meeting,  though  feeling  quite  unwell, 
and  introduced  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Bates,  a  former  pastor  of  the  church,  as 
the  presiding  officer.  The  first  address  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Franklin 
Hamilton,  of  Newtonrille,  Mass. 

Address  of  Rev.  Franklin  Hamilton,  Newtonville,  Mass. 

Were  I  to  tell  you  the  story  of  those  whom  the  world  deems  royal,  I  should 
recite  to  you  the  history  of  princes,  queens,  and  kings. 

•'  There's  such  divinity  doth  hedge  a  king"  that  chronicle  and  romance  have 
Imng  tlieir  richest  garlands  around  the  memory  of  the  warrior  king. 

Even  in  this  democratic  age,  the  king  of  men,  as  old  Homer  defined  him, 
•'  The  first  in  glory  and  the  first  in  place,"'  still  is  esteemed  tlie  great  one  of  earth. 
"  'Tis  so  much  to  be  a  king,"  says  Montaigne,  '"that  he  is  only  so  by  being 
so." 

The  Divine  Carpenter,  however,  has  brought  a  new  revelation  to  bear  upon 
this  thought. 

Monarchs  have  reared  their  thrones  on  the  sweat  and  tears  and  blood  of 
humanity,  while  they,  themselves,  all  too  often,  live  and  lie  reclined  "on  the 
hills,  like  gods  together,  careless  of  mankind." 

Caesar  whispered  to  a  friend  that  his  four  triumphs  had  cost  nine  million 
lives.  At  the  outset,  therefore,  we  see  that  the  royal  life  is  not  necessarily  the 
life  of  one  who  sits  in  "  that  fierce  light  which  beats  upon  a  throne."  The  ruler 
may  wield  a  sceptre,  though  in  the  sight  of  God  he  may  not  be  a  king.  By 
power  he  may  govern,  though  in  life  he  may  not  reign.  Who,  then,  is  the  real 
king,  the  real  queen  ?  Who  are  thev  whom  Jesus  means  when  he  says,  "  I 
appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  me".-"  Who 
are  they  to  whom  Paul  refers  when  he  writes,  "  They  shall  reign  in  life  "  ?  Is 
the  veritable  king,  as  Carlyle  says,  the  koenig,  the  canning,  the  man  who  can? 

Are  any  of  these  the  ideal  kings  of  Jesus.'*  Are  these  they  of  whom  the 
apostle  says,  "  They  shall  reign  in  life".''  Are  these  they  who  live  the  truly 
regal  life?  Or  is  the  life  of  privilege,  of  conquest,  of  glory,  to  be  reserved 
until  we  shall  have  passed  the  Gates  of  Pearl?  Is  it  true  that  I  can  not  enter 
upon  "  my  kingdom  "  until  the  battle  of  life  is  ended  and  the  last  veil  of  eternity 
is  lifted  ?  Is  it  to  be  with  us  as  it  was  with  Pilgrim  Valiant,  that  not  until  in 
the  midst  of  the  dark  river  we  shall  hear  the  silver  trumpets  sound  for  us  on  the 
farther  shore;  not  until,  like  that  mystic  king,  we  shall  be  greeted  with  sounds 
from  beyond  the  limit  of  the  world,  "  as  if  some  fair  city  were  one  voice  around 
a  king  returning  from  his  wars  "  ?  Is  it  true  that  not  until  then  can  we  get  the 
"victory  over  the  blandishments  of  the  symbolic  beast,"  and  stand  among  the 
crowned  conquerors  in  life  ?  No!  Jesus  said  to  his  disciples,  while  they  were 
yet  on  earth,  in  the  midst  of  their  daily  toil,  "  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as 
my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  me."  And  Paul,  while  enduring  stripes,  perils, 
and  weariness,  hunger,  thirst,  and  cold,  and  nakedness,  burst  forth  into  a  song 
and  told  of  a  life  to  be  lived,  so  royal,  so  radiant,  so  blessed,  that  those  who  live 
it  may  be  said  to  reign  as  kings. 

On  earth,  then,  this  kingdom  is  to  be  found.  Here  in  the  daily  walks  and 
dull,  tame  commonplaces  of  existence,  its  kings  and  queens  are  to  reign.  But 
how  shall  we  find  this  kingdom  ?  What  is  the  right  conception  of  the  royal 
life  ?     Let  me  borrow  an  illustration  :  "  Have  you  never  sat  on  the  bank  of  a 


66  Official  Report  of  the 

quiet  lake,  and,  by  that  phenomenon  so  familiar,  have  you  never  seen  the  sur- 
rounding objects,  hills,  trees,  and  shore,  reflected  on  the  placid  surface  of  the 
water?  And  as  you  have  looked,  have  you  not  noticed  that  all  things  are 
reversed  in  that  reflection  ?  That  which  towers  highest  above  you  is  reflected 
as  lowest  in  the  glassy  mirror  before  you,  while  that  which  is  lowest  is  reflected 
in  the  watery  picture  as  highest.  This  is  a  perfect  representation  of  what  by 
and  by  is  to  happen  to  so  many  of  our  earthly  standards."  When  you  and  I 
shall  have  passed  from  the  tempestuous  seas  of  earth,  to  stand  on  that  sea  of 
glass  before  the  throne,  having  the  harps  of  God,  we  shall  then  have  a  larger 
vision  of  life.  We  then  shall  realize  that,  often,  what  here  towers  highest  is,  in 
God's  sight,  the  lowest,  and  that  what  now  on  earth  is  abased  shall  there  be 
exalted.  "  Gold,  here  on  earth,  is  on  top  !  But  up  yonder  they  think  so  little 
of  it  that  they  pave  the  city's  streets  with  it."  Here  in  our  narrow  cave  life,  as 
Plato  calls  it,  men  and  women  are  mad  for  political  place,  for  social  prestige 
and  power.  Here  we  idolize  beauty,  learning,  and  the  magic  of  a  name;  but 
up  yonder,  in  the  wider,  unthralled  life,  it  is  seen  that  all  these  may  be  joined  to 
a  shrunken  soul,  and  so  these  count  but  as  dust  in  the  scales  of  that  tall  arch- 
angel weighing 

"  All  man's  dreaming,  doing,  saying, 
In  the  unimagined  years." 

Apply  now  this  thought  to  the  problem  of  our  kingdom  and  the  royal  life, 
and  see  what  a  revelation  it  brings.  Paul  tells  us  that  they  shall  reign  in  life 
which  receive  "  abundance  of  grace  by  one  Jesus."  Mark  you, — they  which 
receive  "abundance  of  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteousness,  they  shall  reign 
in  life."  It  matters  not  how  poor  or  how  mean  they  may  be,  if  they  will  but 
receive  into  their  lives  the  abundance  of  his  grace  and  of  the  gift  of  righteous- 
ness, absolutely  no  limit  can  be  put  to  their  spiritual  development.  Tliey  shall 
inherit  tlie  earth.  They  shall  be  so  changed  from  character  to  character  that 
at  last  they  shall  present  to  the  world  regal  lives  of  radiant  beauty  and  tran- 
scendent power.  Because  of  their  acceptance  with  God  spheres  of  unutterable 
sacredness  are  open  to  their  footsteps.  With  them,  as  Macaulay  said  of  the 
Puritans,  "  If  their  names  are  not  found  in  the  registers  of  heralds,  they  are  re- 
corded in  the  Book  of  Life.  If  their  steps  are  not  accompanied  by  a  splendid 
train  of  menials,  legions  of  ministering  angels  have  charge  over  them.  Their 
palaces  are  houses  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens  ;  their  diadems, 
crowns  of  glory  that  shall  never  fade  away." 

Here,  then,  at  last,  is  our  kingdom,  — a  reign  of  the  Spirit.  The  royal  life 
is  the  life  that  through  the  transforming  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  has  become  a 
life  of  privilege,  of  conquest,  and  of  glory.  The  ideal  kings  and  queens,  they 
who  live  the  truly  regal  life,  are  those  who,  through  the  indwelling  Spirit  of 
God,  have  gotten  the  mastery  over  self  and  the  world,  over  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness and  hell,  and,  in  their  own  souls,  have  entered  upon  that  beatific  vision 
which  comforted  the  great  Shepherd  King  e'er  his  spirit  passed  away  to  join 
the  harpers  harping  with  their  harps, — "  What  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of 
him  and  the  son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him.-'  Thou  hast  made  him  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels  and  has  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor." 

But  stop!  That  is  not  all.  This  kingdom  of  the  Spirit  is  a  kingdom  in 
which  advancement  goes  not  by  favor.  Nor  is  it  obtainable  by  clamorous  so- 
licitation. The  way  to  the  throne  in  this  kingdom  is  the  via  dolorosa  oiiht. 
Cross.  The  palm-bearers  in  its  realm  of  glory  shall  be  they  who  have  passed 
through  great  tribulation.  Its  princes  shall  be  they  who  have  drunk  most 
deeply  of  his  cup  of  sorrow. 

Explain  that,  you  say.  Listen!  "Behold,  a  king  shall  reign,"  and  as  he 
reigns  he  shall  be  unto  others  as  "  a  hiding-place  from  the  wind  and  a  covert 
from  the  tempest;  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the  shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  a  weary  land."  What  the  deep,  safe  haven  is  to  the  storm-tossed,  faint 
ing  mariner ;  what  the  sky-fed  mountain  river  with  its  cool  refreshing  waters  is 
to  the  parched  and  thirsty  desert ;  what  the  great  rocks'  saving  shadow  is  to  the 
caravan  fleeing  from  the  sand-storm,  perishing  ;^all  these  is  a  king  in  this  king- 
dom to  be  unto  others.     "  Whosoever  of  you  will  be  the  chiefest  shall  be  ser- 


FiftcciitJi  International  Convention.  67 

vant  of  all."  "  Even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to 
minister."  What  a  revelation  !  What  a  startling  conception  this  is  !  What  a 
flood  of  light  it  throws  on  the  utterance  of  Jesus  and  on  the  thought  of  Paul! 
Under  its  white  illumination  how  our  human  standards  shrivel.  Now  we  know 
that  the  world's  estimate  of  success  is  false.  The  world's  conception  of  king- 
ship is  utterly  inadequate.  In  the  realm  of  matter  the  mightiest  forces  are  the 
quietest.  So  now  we  realize  that,  in  the  realm  of  the  Spirit,  the  most  regal 
lives  are  the  humblest. 

A  king  after  the  manner  of  Napoleon .?  Why,  such  a  king  is  a  slave  !  A 
king  after  the  manner  of  genius  or  learning  .?  Why,  the  most  accomplished,  the 
most  brilliant,  men  and  women  are  often  the  worst,  the  most  degenerate.  A 
king  after  the  manner  of  money-bags.?  Why,  most  millionaires  are  like  butter- 
nut-trees,—  they  impoverish  the  ground  upon  which  they  grow. 

"  Come,  now,  and  let  us  reason  together."  It  is  a  grander  thing  by  far  to  be 
nobly  remembered  than  to  be  nobly  born.  Professor  Blackie  used  to  say, 
"  Money  is  not  needful,  power  is  not  needful,  liberty  is  not  needful,  even  health 
is  not  the  one  thing  needful ;  but  royal  character  is  that  which  alone  can  save 
us.     If  we  are  not  saved  in  this  sense,  we  certainly  must  be  damned." 

"  Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me 
'  T  is  only  noble  to  be  good. 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets, 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

Do  you  not  know  that  one  of  the  most  regal  natures  that  Anglo-Saxon  civili- 
zation has  produced  was  a  poor  Cornish  miner,  Billy  Bray,  known  the  world 
over  as  the  "  King's  son  "? 

There  was  no  need  of  those  draped  flags  of  the  Salvation  Army,  or  the 
sound  of  those  muffled  drums,  as  they  bore  to  the  grave  all  that  was  mortal  of 
Catharine  Booth,  to  announce  that  humanity  that  day  was  losing  a  queen. 
God's  wondrous  benediction  upon  the  work  of  her  hands  had  told  that.  Sleep 
on,  thou  sweet  St.  Catharine  of  England;  sleep  on,  thou  queen! 

"  There  is  never  a  sigh  of  passion  or  of  pity, 
Never  a  wail  for  weakness  or  for  wrong, 
But  has  its  archive  in  the  angels'  city. 
And  finds  its  echo  in  the  endless  song." 

Oh,  I  rejoice  that  we  are  beginning  to  exalt  ourselves  to  this  conception  of  the 
"  King's  daughter,"  the  "  King's  son." 

The  second  address  was  delivered  by  Rev.  R.  F.  Coyle,  D.D.,  of 
Oakland,  Cal.  The  address  was  to  have  been  delivered  by  Rev.  W.  D. 
Williams,  D.D.,  of  San  Francisco,  but  he  was  unavoidably  prevented 
from  attending  the  meeting.  Ur.  Coyle  spoke  of  the  character  of 
Washington  weather,  and  stated  that  when  the  Convention  came  next 
year  to  California,  as  he  understood,  perfect  weather  could  be 
guaranteed. 

The  gist  of  his  remarks  was  to  the  effect  that  by  patience  we  are 
to  acquire  for  ourselves  souls.  We  have  a  flesh  man  and  a  spirit  man, 
and  according  to  the  intention  of  God  the  spiritual  man  should  enlarge 
and  grow  away  from  the  corporal  man.  He  spoke  of  the  fact  that 
souls  are  not  ready-made  products,  and  need  to  be  enlarged  by  man. 
He  stated  that  the  first  impulse  of  man  is  to  do  the  highest  aim  of  the 
soul;  but,  when  the  matter  is  considered  over,  the  corporal  man  steps 
in,  and  selfishness  sits  on  the  bench. 

The  thought  of  the  "quiet  hour,"  which  was  led  by  one  of  the 
editors  of  The  Golden  Rule,  Mr.  Arthur  W.  Kelly,  turned  on  the  con- 
secration needed  as  a  preparation  for  the  Convention. 


68  Official  Report  of  the 

rietropolitan  Presbyterian  Church. 

Not  less  than  i,6oo  persons,  it  was  estimated,  attended  the  meeting 
at  Metropolitan  Presbyterian  Church.  Rev.  Dr.  George  M.  Luccock, 
pastor,  presided,  and  Dr.  F.  J.  Woodman  was  musical  director,  with 
Mrs.  W.  F.  Nicholson  as  organist.  The  principal  address  was  de- 
livered by  Rev.  W.  G.  Fennell  of  Meriden,  Conn.,  president  of  the 
Connecticut  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  G.  Fennell,  Meriden,  Conn. 

The  word  "  spiritual  "  has  come  to  be  a  much-abused  term.  It  is  partly  on 
this  account  that  so  many  of  our  young  people  are  afraid  of  it.  The  extreme 
ecclesiastic  has  long  appropriated  it  to  designate  those  who  withdraw  them- 
selves from  the  world  to  live  a  monastic  life.  The  Pietist  would  apply  the  term 
to  the  long-faced  and  deep-sighing  souls  who  see  so  much  of  sin  and  sorrow 
that  they  consider  it  wrong  to  smile.  Swedenborg,  with  his  visions  and  trances, 
seemed  to  think  that  spirituaHty  was  the  subtle  power  of  evaporating  fact  and 
reality  into  something  ethereal.  Last  of  all,  and  perhaps  the  worst  of  all,  modern 
rehgious  fads  have  taken  it  up,  and  would  fain  refuse  the  right  to  use  it  to  other 
than  their  own  select  few.  By  Christian  scientists,  mental  scientists,  and  theoso- 
phists  it  is  applied  to  their  mental  ecstasies.  But  any  healthful  mind  will  ac- 
knowledge that  it  is  not  good  sense  to  ignore  a  truth  because  some  people  have 
abused  it.  That  is  one  of  our  faults.  Many  have  kept  silent  on  the  subject  of 
temperance  because  some  people  had,  as  they  thought,  taken  extreme  positions. 
An  honest  man  would  say  that  there  is  all  the  more  need  of  wise  men  in  the 
ranks,  and  I  must  find  a  place  somewhere.  If  some  men  have  taken  an  unwise 
position  with  reference  to  spirituality,  it  is  our  duty  as  honest  Christians  to  find 
the  mean  between  extremes,  and  set  up  a  standard  to  which  the  Church  may 
rally.  To  be  spiritually  minded  is  to  have  the  mind  of  the  Spirit;  it  is  to  come 
into  living  relationship  with  God  ;  it  is  normal  living,  recognizing  the  high  call- 
ing and  destiny  of  man.  Such  a  conception  of  spirituality  must  appeal  to  every 
person,  young  or  old,  for  it  means  making  the  most  of  life  according  to  God's 
plan.  In  studying  the  spiritual  development  of  Paul  we  notice  that  his  prog- 
ress was  in  proportion  to  his  conception  of  God.  We  can  obtain  the  inspiring 
view  of  God's  purposes  by  studying  God  in  history,  above  all  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  Old  Testament  is  a  section  of  history  laid  open.  Much  that 
governs  that  history  is  true  of  all  history.  Study  it  long  if  you  would  come  to 
have  the  broad  view  that  will  enable  you  to  think  God's  thoughts  after  him. 
The  old  idea  of  "spiritual"  was  too  passive.  Like  the  monk  of  the  middle 
ages,  it  betook  itself  to  the  mountains  to  meditate ;  it  was  a  subjective  condition 
instead  of  an  active  force.  The  true  spirituality,  becoming  deeply  impressed 
with  God's  purpose  in  the  world,  would  consecrate  itself  to  the  purpose  of  see- 
ing that  effort  realized.  Above  and  beyond  all,  a  deeper  spiritual  life  must 
come  through  a  more  complete  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  next  speaker  received  a  royal  welcome,  coming  as  he  did  as 
the  official  delegate  from  the  British  National  Council  of  Christian 
Endeavor.     We  regret  we  can  not  give  Mr.  Morgan's  address  in  full. 

Address  of  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  Chester,  England. 

If  this  movement  stands  for  anything,  it  stands  for  a  whole-souled  and  out- 
and-out  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ.  The  obligadon  to  personal  holiness  is  on 
every  Endeavorer.  Words  have  no  meaning  if  the  Bible  does  not  teach  that. 
Would  that  Christians  would  honorably,  squarely,  face  out  the  idea  of  deepen- 
ing the  spiritual  life.  I  have  no  royal  road  to  point  out  to-night  by  which  to 
accomplish  this  purpose,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  to  accomplish  the  deepen- 
ing of  the  spiritual  life  there  must  be  a  definite  renunciation  of  the  world's 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  69 

spirit.  You  are  called  by  Christ's  religion  to  self-denial,  to  self-sacrifice.  But 
be  not  afraid  of  God's  altar.  Does  it  bid  you  climb  the  rugged  steeps  of 
Moriah?  Does  it  nail  you  to  the  great  sacrifice.''  Shrink  not  from  the  task. 
There  is  an  angel  waiting  for  you  when  you  reach  the  top.  Does  it  place 
you  in  the  path  of  duty.?  Stand  for  the  right.  Renunciation  standing  stifily 
by  itself  is  insufficient.  There  must  be  aspirations  as  well  as  renunciation. 
What  do  we  know  about  the  passion  for  holiness?  Our  whole  soul  must 
be  put  into  the  thirst  after  righteousness.  The  passion  for  holiness  finds  its 
focal  point  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  in  likeness  to  him.  It  is  personal  loyalty  to 
a  personal  Saviour.  The  spirit  of  Jesus  is  for  the  world.  All  true  progress,  all 
real  advance,  is  for  Jesus  Christ.  The  most  important  condition  of  ail  for  the 
deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  is  inspiration.  It  is  the  inbreathing  of  God  into 
the  soul.  In  that  God-breath  lies  the  deepening  of  our  spiritual  life.  And  it  is 
available  for  you  and  me.  When  self  is  crucified,  when  the  vision  of  God  is 
more  clearly  seen,  when  God's  people  are  more  filled  with  the  Spirit,  then  shall 
they  fly  as  doves  to  their  windows ;  then  shall  a  nation  be  born  in  a  day ! 

Epiphany  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

The  pastor  of  the  Epiphany  Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  R.  McKim, 
presided  at  the  meeting,  and  the  Rev.  C.  M.  Palmer,  of  Lanesboro, 
Mass.,  conducted  the  "  quiet  hour  "  at  the  close  of  the  service.  The 
music  was  rendered  by  a  choir  of  boys,  their  singing  being  greatly 
enjoyed.  The  Rev.  Albert  E.  George,  of  South  Boston,  Mass.,  and  the 
Right  Honorable  Rev.  M.  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Huron, 
Ontario,  were  the  speakers. 

Address  of  Rev.  Albert  E.  George,  South  Boston,  Mass. 

There  is  always  something  encouraging  when  we  set  out  to  do  a  work  that 
gives  us  a  foundation  to  build  upon.  It  is  hard  to  construct  without  this.  We 
are  asked  to  deepen  our  spiritual  life,  not  make  it.  It  exists  in  us  all,  and,  while 
it  may  not  be  fully  developed,  it  is  within  and  has  the  degrees  of  activity  and 
progress.  When  it  becomes  indolent  and  dormant  it  can,  through  a  variety  of 
means,  be  awakened,  cultivated,  and  trained.  It  will  act  at  our  will,  and,  as  it 
acts,  bring  us  into  a  larger  realization  of  the  living  God,  moving  us  and  testify- 
ing of  our  spiritual  strength.  The  spiritual  life,  in  short,  is  a  life  in  union  with 
God.  It  is  the  measure  of  his  Spirit  dwelling  in  us.  To  feel  its  existence  is 
as  natural  as  any  law  of  life.  It  is  as  natural  for  us  to  serve  God  in  some 
capacity  as  it  is  natural  for  the  bud  to  bloom  into  the  flower.  In  some  degree 
it  is  a  mistake  to  look  upon  God  as  anything  acquired  or  cultivated.  A  taste 
for  certain  kinds  of  foods  which  were  at  one  time  repulsive  can  be  acquired. 
But  we  do  not  acquire  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  with  us  as  a  natural  tendency, 
not  anything  forced.  Looking  at  it  in  this  light,  there  is  no  other  way  of 
regarding  it.  We  are  prepared  to  investigate  the  how  and  why  it  should  be 
deepened.  It  should  be  deepened  because  it  is  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul 
of  man.  We  speak  about  God  dwelling  in  us.  Did  not  God  make  it  evident  ? 
He  put  his  Godhead  in  union  with  manhood  in  the  person  of  Jesus.  Jesus  is 
the  testimony  of  the  Divine  Mind.  God,  from  that  time,  has  been  peculiarly 
dwelling  in  man.  Every  man  in  his  ideal  state  has  the  life  of  God  in  him.  To 
deny  this  is  to  lower  humanity.  The  more  we  draw  upon  this  silent  depend- 
ence upon  God,  the  more  we  see  our  .spiritual  life.  No  better  words  set  forth 
the  mighty  truth  than  "  Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  As  the  branch  cannot  bear 
fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in 
me."  (John  xv.  4.)  Spiritual  life  needs  to  be  deepened  because  of  its  vast 
opportunities.  It  endows  us  with  the  gift  of  discrimination.  It  enables  us  to 
discern  all  things.  The  very  secrets  of  life  are  opened.  It  is  the  true  cathode 
ray  and  helps  us  to  tell  what  will  advance  the  growth  of  the  divine  life  within, 
and  what  it  is  necessary  to  guard  against.     It  needs  to  be  deepened  because  of 


70  Official  Report  of  the 

its  warmth.  One  zealous,  sincere,  spiritually  minded  man  can  warm  up  a  com- 
munity; and  how  many  have  done  it !  Our  fires  are  lighted  by  sparks  from  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  Pentecost  is  not  a  stationary  event ;  it  is  repeating  itself  in 
the  heart  of  every  consecrated  servant.  How  may  it  be  deepened.'*  The 
power  that  made  this  spiritual  life  possible  is  the  power  to  deepen  it.  That 
power  is  God.  The  spiritual  life  that  sometimes  grows  indistinct  and  even 
useless  in  our  eyes,  that  may  be  cast  aside,  can  be  recovered  and  restored  by 
the  One  that  made  it  plain  to  us.  It  may  be  deepened  by  putting  ourselves  in 
continual  union  with  the  objects  that  suggest  and  endear  God  to  us;  by  medita- 
tion upon  the  Divine  Word,  measuring  ourselves  according  to  its  precepts, 
guiding  and  shaping  our  way  by  means  of  it.  Get  it  into  your  life.  Deepen 
every  feeling  for  God  by  it.  To  deepen  spiritual  life  we  must  feel  the  power  of 
Jesus.  Nothing  short  of  this  affects  the  mysterious  union  that  we  maintain 
with  him.  Deepen  your  spiritual  life  by  Christian  conventions.  In  a  conven- 
tion like  this  there  is  a  blessing  coming  from  a  hundred  sources.  What  is  the 
aftermath  of  such  a  convention  if  truly  and  sincerely  followed.?  More  spiritu- 
ality, more  consecration,  and  more  unity.  Listen  to  the  testimony  of  other 
Christians,  and  what  is  then  awakened  but  a  deeper  obligation  of  our  duty? 

Address  of  the  Right  Honorable  Rev.  Maurice  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  Lord 
Bishop  of  Huron,  Ontario. 

We  are  told  in  Divine  Scriptures  that  God  created  man  in  his  own  image; 
beautiful  and  fair  he  was  till  sin  came,  and  then  sin,  writing  its  deep  impressions 
upon  man,  obliterated  the  marks  of  that  divine  nature.  l3eeper  and  deeper  he 
sinks  into  the  abyss  of  sin  —  sinks  till  he  does  not  exhibit  one  feature  that  the 
world  could  say  was  Godlike.  I  would  ask  you  just  for  one  moment  to  con- 
sider how  the  world  was  utterly  unable,  at  the  time  when  Christ  actually  came, 
to  exhibit  any  one  that  looked  as  the  face  of  God.  They  tell  us  that  an  emi- 
nent artist  on  one  occasion  pictured  a  child  in  lovely  innocence  which  was  con- 
sidered such  a  masterpiece  that  it  was  hung  up  as  a  goodly  ornament  in  a  great 
gathering.  Years  rolled  by;  the  artist  was  beginning  to  grow  enfeebled.  A 
man  asked  him  if  he  would  not  kindly  draw  a  companion  picture  to  that,  and  it 
was  to  be  Vice.  The  artist  consented,  and  he  went  to  some  penitentiary  and 
selected  the  darkest,  most  repulsive  face  that  he  could  find  there,  some  one  of 
knitted  eyebrows,  some  one  that  seemed  to  have  graduated  in  crime.  He  se- 
lected this  man  as  the  subject  of  his  painting.  He  painted  this  face  and  hung 
it  up;  and  after  awhile  it  transpired  that  the  man  he  had  just  painted  was  at 
one  time  the  child  whose  face  of  perfect  innocence  was  the  admiration  of  all. 
The  one  was  the  child  ;  the  other  was  the  man  —  the  same  being.  One  exhibits 
the  traces  and  the  work  of  the  ghastly  power  of  sin.  And  so  it  came  to  pass 
that  man  having  lost  the  Godlike  image  which  the  Father  intended,  God  at 
last  sent  One  to  be  his  perfect  image  ;  and  when  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  trod  this 
earth  men  as  they  looked  into  his  calm  face  saw  the  face  of  God.  Our  Lord 
said,  ''  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me, 
Philip?  He  that  hast  seen  me  hast  seen  the  Father,  and  how  sayest  thou 
then.  Show  us  the  Father?  "  His  face  might  be  marked  more  than  the  sons  of 
men,  but  that  face  was  the  face  of  God.  As  men  looked  into  it  they  saw  the 
face  of  the  great  Father  of  us  all ;  and  I  ask  amidst  the  followers  of  Christ,  Is 
there  not  something  that  the  world  stands  yet  in  awe  of  ?  Infidelity,  looking  at 
the  jagged  edges  of  our  troubled  lives,  our  thoughts,  our  feelings,  and  our  sins, 
criticises  and  sometimes  ridicules,  often  rejects,  the  claim  we  make,  and  infi- 
delity sometimes  attacks  the  very  Word  of  God.  But,  after  all,  there  is  one 
figure  that  looms  up  from  time  into  eternity,  that  has  its  feet  upon  the  earth 
but  whose  face  is  in  heaven,  and  that  is  the  form  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 

They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  be  like  him,  and  I  would  only  point  out  to 
you  that  this  is  the  Lord's  way,  —  to  take  his  promise,  to  lay  it  down  at  his  feet 
and  then  urge  it  by  the  sacredness  of  his  truthfulness,  by  the  inviolability  of  his 
promise  and  the  sanctity  of  his  own  oath,  and  as  the  Lord  liveth  and  as  thy  soul 
liveth,  thou  shalt  grasp  the  fulness  of  his  promise.     And  I  v/ould  ask  you  to 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  71 

notice  what  it  is  to  be  like  Christ.  First,  it  is  to  be  like  a  man  that  was  put  to 
death  and  buried  and  raised  to  life  again.  I  never  saw  a  man  that  was  put  to 
death  and  buried  and  raised  to  life  again,  but  the  first  person  we  see  like  this 
will  be  like  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now  when  St.  John  saw  him  he  said  he 
saw  a  lamb  as  it  had  been  slain.  There  were  the  wouad-prints  upon  his  hand, 
the  spear-point  in  his  side.  He  looked  like  a  lamb  that  had  been  slain  and 
had  been  raised  to  life  again.  And  when  we  reach  the  better  home  and  these 
dim  eyes  look  upon  our  Lord,  he  will  look  like  one  who  did  die  and  was  buried 
and  raised  again.  Now  what  is  it  to  look  like  that.?  I  would  ask  you  to  notice 
what  the  great  mass  of  Christians  look  like,  and  if  there  is  anything  common  it 
is  the  appearance  of  many  Christians.  You  go  into  ordinary  Christian  society 
and  you  find  that  men  and  women  give  way  to  the  ordinary  laws  that  guide  the 
world.  Here  is  a  man  who  says,  "  This  person  has  traduced  my  character."  He 
proceeds  to  try  to  traduce  his  character.  You  speak  evil  of  me  and  I  speak 
evil  of  you.  You  run  me  down  and  1  will  run  you  down.  Here  is  a  man  that 
sings  like  a  cherub  in  the  church  and  rehearses  his  creeds,  but  some  person 
has  offended  him  and  he  says,  "  1  will  drag  him  to  every  court  in  the  law." 
Yes,  and  that  is  what  the  world  says,  too.  It  is  the  law  of  the  jungle.  It  is  not 
the  law  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Now  when  you  see  a  man  that  has  been  put  to  death  and  buried  and  raised 
to  life  again,  it  is  a  man  that  will  bless  where  others  curse,  a  man  that  will 
whisper  a  kind  word  of  him  that  is  secretly  undermining  his  character.  You  may 
say  there  are  not  many  to  do  that ;  but  there  are  not  many  like  Jesus  Christ; 
and  I  say  to  you,  Go  into  the  world  and  get  the  men  that  give  their  hearts  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  let  them  be  covered  with  ignominy,  the  reproach, 
the  taunting,  the  bitterness,  and  the  acrimony  of  the  world,  and  let  them  exhibit 
the  life  of  Christ.  To  shine  out  as  jewels  that  glitter  and  break  and  refract 
the  beam  in  this  dark  world  —  oh!  they  are  the  people  that  teach  us  that  there 
is  a  Christ  above  because  they  see  a  Christ  below.  Yes,  and  that  will  convince 
the  world.  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  There  is  something  to  which  the 
world  will  do  homage.  Does  Christ  live  in  the  ordinary  events  or  in  the  extra- 
ordinary events  of  every  day's  rushing,  busy,  tumultuous  existence  1  O  child 
of  God,  show  to  the  world  that  your  own  nature  has  been  put  to  death,  been 
buried  fathoms  deep,  and  that  you  live  in  the  power  of  the  resurrection,  that 
you  bear  the  wound-prints  upon  your  hand,  and  the  spear-point  is  there  upon 
you  to  show  that  you  died  with  Jesus  Christ  and  live  in  the  power  of  his  endless 
life. 

This  is  Christ's  character;  and  just  as  you  exhibit  this  you  will  be  a  light 
shining  in  the  world. 

The  next  feature  of  our  Lord's  extraordinary  life  is  this :  the  food  he  par- 
took of.  He  did  not  partake  of  the  food  we  take.  He  said,  "  My  meat  and  my 
drink  are  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me."  That  was  the  food  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  lived  on.  He  said  it  was  his  meat,  it  was  his  drink,  just  to  do  God  the 
Father's  will.  He  could  live  on  that.  It  was  his  food.  I  would  like  to  be  in 
that  frame  of  mind ;  and  whoever  do  reach  it  will  look  like  Christ.  They  will 
be  so  lost  in  the  doing  of  the  Lord's  will  that  they  will  find  it  meat  and  find  it 
drink;  they  will  not  go  with  jaded  feet,  not  go  with  a  groan,  not  go  from  the 
exigency  of  the  occasion,  but  esteem  it  as  a  hungry  man  esteems  a  gracious 
repast,  and  as  a  thirsty  man  drinks  fathoms  deep  of  the  draft  and  is  refreshed. 
So  the  Lord  thought  the  doing  of  his  Father's  will  was  meat  and  drink.  Dear 
fellow  citizens,  seek  this  :  to  be  lost  in  thy  blessed  Saviour's  will,  so  that  thou 
shalt  not  be  beaten  with  a  whip  of  scorpions  to  thy  work,  but  wilt  be  as  those 
that  find  it  meat  and  find  it  drink  to  be  lost  in  the  doing  of  the  Saviour's  will. 

Thirdly,  our  Lord's  character  is  seen  in  the  position  he  held  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Our  Lord  had  a  model  for  life,  and  that  model  and  that  plan  were 
in  the  inspired  page  of  God.  There  was  truth  in  this:  that,  though  he  was 
possessed  of  all  power,  all  power  in  heaven  and  all  power  in  earth,  there  was 
one  thing  he  could  not  do,  and  that  was  deflect  one  hair's  breadth  from  the 
word  of  God.  When  the  disciples  said,  "  Master,  Master,  that  be  far  from 
thee,"  he  rebuked  them.     He  said  to  Peter,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan :  thou 


72  Official  Report  of  the 

savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  the  things  that  be  of  men."  And 
when  our  Lord  looked  at  the  Bible,  he  looked  at  it  as  you  look  at  a  map. 
You  are  about  to  start  on  a  journey,  an  unknown  road,  and  you  sit  carefully 
down  to  study  a  map.  You  see  your  starting-point  and  you  see  the  goal  thai 
you  wish  to  reach,  and  you  say,  '"  I  must  travel  that  road  ;  "  and  .our  Lord  saw 
his  whole  path  from  the  cradle  of  Bethlehem  to  the  paths  of  glory  depicted  in 
that  Book  of  God,  and  he  followed  that  as  no  other  human  being  ever  did, 
and  he  assures  us  that  the  whole  source  of  human  knowledge  lies  here.  See 
him  when  temptations  are  gathered  around  him,  when  he  sweat,  as  it  were, 
great  drops  of  blood;  not  for  one  moment  would  he  listen  to  the  voice  that 
said,  ''  Turn  aside."  His  response  was  always,  "  How,  then,  shall  the  Scrip- 
tures be  fulfilled  ?" 

O  child  of  God,  if  thou  wouldst  put  thy  feet  into  the  footprints  of  thy  Lord, 
if  thou  wouldst  climb  up  that  same  ascent  and  go  down  that  same  depth,  thou 
must  take  God's  Word  and  shut  your  ear  to  human  cry  and  hold  it  straight 
before  thee;  for  the  way  the  Master  trod  was  not  that  of  expediency,  of  human 
thought,  of  popular  maxim,  or  of  the  world's  inclination,  but  it  was  as  God  wrote 
it  with  his  finger  in  the  inspired  volume  of  his  Book. 

To  conclude,  —  the  last  feature  I  shall  mention  is  as  follows:  that  whatever 
our  Lord  did  he  did  in  the  power  of  God,  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  a  mystery,  but 
it  is  what  we  are  to  teach.  We  are  told  that  at  his  baptism  the  Holy  Ghost 
came  down  and  descended  as  a  dove.  After  his  baptism  he  was  led  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  into  the  wilderness.  After  his  temptation  he  came  back  in  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  He  talked  in  the  synagogue  of  Nazareth,  and  he  said,  "The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  the  Lord  hath  intended  me  to  preach." 
Again,  in  appealing  to  the  Jews  of  his  day,  he  said,  "  If  I  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
cast  out  devils,  by  whom  do  your  sons  cast  them  out?"  And,  lastly,  we  are 
told  by  St.  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  it  was  through  the  Spirit 
that  he  offered  himself  to  God  and  accomplished  the  great  work  of  redemp- 
tion. And  in  concluding  let  me  say  that  it  was  by  the  indwelling,  the  mysteri- 
ous indweUing,  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost  that  our  Lord,  our  Master  and  Guide, 
performed  the  great  work  of  redemption.  So,  dear  child  of  God,  thou  shalt  do 
it  and  grow  to  the  likeness  of  that  Lord.  Then  thy  features  will  fade  away  and 
new  features  come.  They  will  be  the  features  of  the  face  of  the  Lord  that  died 
for  thee. 

Go  home  with  this  blessed  thought:  that  "  I  too  am  to  be  like  my  Lord; 
that  the  Lord  will  take  the  common,  sin-stained,  polluted  thing  of  earth  and  by 
his  grace  will  transform  it  until  it  shall  burn  like  the  glory  of  the  Saviour  him- 
self, and  I  shall  be  like  him,  for  he  shall  stamp  his  features  on  my  heart."  May 
God  deepen  this  life  in  us  all,  for  Christ's  sake.  Amen. 


First  Presbyterian  Church. 


^S 


The  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  crowded  to  its  doors,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  a  missionary  address,  illustrated  with  lantern  slides,  by  the 
Rev,  Frank  S.  Dobbins,  of  Philadelphia,  on  "  The  Land  of  the  Rising 
Sun."  The  meeting  was  in  the  interest  of  the  foreign  missions,  and 
not  only  was  the  large  audience  delighted  by  the  speaker's  description 
of  missionary  work  in  the  East,  but  also  highly  gratified  by  his  state- 
ments of  the  success  which  is  now  attending  such  work. 

Rev.  D.  W.  Skellenger,  of  Washington,  presided  at  the  meeting  and 
cordially  welcomed  the  strangers.  While  the  audience  was  gathering 
the  young  people  started  hymn  after  hymn  of  those  most  familiar  and 
dear  to  Christian  Endeavorers.  Neatly  uniformed  young  men  seated 
the  audience,  and  the  church  was  handsomely  decorated  with  bunting, 
the  national  and  Christian  Endeavor  colors  being  prominent,  as  were 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  73 

the  colors  of  the  New  Jersey  delegation,  orange  and  black,  the  church 
being  that  delegation's  headquarters. 

Mr.  Skellenger  explained  that  the  address  would  be  preceded  by  a 
service  of  song  and  prayer,  conducted  by  Dr.  Dobbins.  All  were 
asked  by  Dr.  Dobbins  to  bow  their  heads  in  silent  prayer,  and  then,  as 
the  hymns  were  flashed  upon  the  large  canvas  screen  in  front  of  the 
pulpit,  each  hymn  being  accompanied  by  appropriate  illustrations,  the 
audience,  led  by  the  choir,  sang  a  verse  or  two  of  each  one.  Dr.  Dob- 
bins interpolating  sentences  appropriate  to  their  themes.  The  feature 
of  this  service  was  the  rendering  of  the  grand  old  hymn,  "  All  Hail  the 
Power  of  Jesus'  Name."  First  a  verse  was  sung  by  a  single  voice,  one 
of  the  young  ladies  of  the  choir.  Then  the  choir  sang  another  verse, 
the  women  in  the  audience,  only,  rendered  another  verse,  and  all 
present  joined  in  singing  the  concluding  verse. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Byron  Sunderland,  pastor  of  the  church,  in  invoking 
the  divine  blessing,  spoke  of  the  day  as  being  one  of  the  grandest  in 
Christian  history,  saying  that  the  Christian  Endeavorers  were  the  elect 
of  God,  who  were  to  take  in  their  hands  the  banner  of  Christ. 

Dr.  Dobbins  then  told  in  an  interesting  way  of  the  missionary  work 
in  Japan,  India,  China,  Burmah,  and  Africa.  He  paid  a  high  compli- 
ment to  the  intelligence  of  the  Japanese  and  their  love  for  the  beauti- 
ful, saying  that  it  is  very  gratifying  and  encouraging  to  know  that  the 
seeds  sown  by  the  missionaries  are  springing  up  among  the  higher 
classes  in  Japan. 

Mr.  Dobbins  lised  about  no  lantern  slides,  all  finely  colored.  First 
was  shown  the  out-door  life  of  Japan,  the  queenly  mountain,  the 
jinrikisha,  and  child-life  in  Japan.  Following  that  came  a  study  of  the 
home-life  of  the  Japanese  people.  The  religious  life  was  next  consid- 
ered, with  illustrations  of  celebrated  idols  and  temples,  leading  up  to 
a  consideration  of  the  relations  of  Christianity  to  Japan  in  ancient  days 
and  in  recent  years. 

Then  hurriedly  the  lantern  journey  was  continued  through  India, 
Burmah,  Assam,  China,  and  the  Congo  region  in  Africa.  Groups  of 
noted  missionaries,  the  division  of  the  missionary  dollar  (showing  by 
an  odd  device  just  what  becomes  of  money  given  for  missions),  mis- 
sionary homes,  certain  great  events  in  missionary  history,  and  evi- 
dences, by  the  sun's  testimony,  of  the  value  of  missions  and  their  great 
success,  —  all  these  were  presented  by  carefully  drawn  illustrations, 
with  full,  yet  concise,  description. 

First  Congregational  Church. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  programme  was  the  illus- 
trated address  on  Armenia,  delivered  by  Rev.  George  E.  Lovejoy,  of 
Stoneham,  Mass.,  at  the  First  Congregational  Church.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  heavy  rain-storm,  the  church  was  crowded  to  the  doors  by  an 
audience  which  demonstrated  its  thorough  accord  with  the  sentiments 
of  the  speaker  by  frequent  and  enthusiastic  applause. 


74  Official  Report  of  the 

Long  lines  of  red,  white,  and  blue  streamers  were  festooned  from  vari- 
ous points  in  the  balcony  to  the  central  chandelier  in  the  ceiling.  The 
rear  wall  was  decorated  with  a  large  banner  of  real  red,  white,  and  blue, 
and  the  American  colors  in  various  designs  were  displayed  at  all  other 
points  of  vantage. 

Rev.  S.  M.  Newman,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  church,  presided,  and  the 
music  was  rendered  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  chorus  of  the  church, 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  E  R.  O'Conner. 

"  The  Crescent  Against  the  Cross"  was  the  title  of  Mr.  Lovejoy's 
lecture,  and  it  dealt  entirely  with  the  persecutions  and  outrages  perpe- 
trated upon  the  Christian  Armenians  by  the  agents  and  emissaries  of 
the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  Mr.  Lovejoy  told  a  graphic  story  of  the  recent 
massacres  in  Eastern  Turkey,  where  the  martyred  Armenians  were 
given  the  choice  of  "  Islam  or  death,"  and  were  ruthlessly  slaughtered 
by  the  cruel  Turks  because  they  heroically  refused  to  renounce  their 
religion.  The  details  were  suppressed,  so  far  as  possible,  by  the  Turk- 
ish authorities,  but  enough  was  known,  he  said,  to  make  the  blood  run 
cold. 

Pictures  of  the  Sultan,  his  palaces,  the  principal  dignitaries  who 
have  figured  in  the  Armenian  troubles,  Constantinople,  Stambool,  the 
bridge  across  the  Dardanelles  between  them,  several  mosques  in 
different  parts  of  Turkey,  groups  of  the  Kurds  and  Basha  Bazouks  (the 
regular  and  irregular  soldiers  of  Turkey),  and  many  other  interesting 
pictures  were  shown  during  the  description. 

The  massacres  have  been  a  regular  thing  for  the  past  two  hundred 
years.  The  authorities  deny  any  responsibility  for  them,  but  there  is 
no  doubt  but  that  they  have  been  ordered  and  directed  from  that 
source.  After  the  massacres  of  last  year,  a  Commission  of  Inquiry 
was  ordered  to  investigate  and  report  their  causes,  and  enough  evi- 
dence was  produced  to  show  that  if  they  were  not  ordered  directly  by 
the  Sultan,  it  was  not  very  far  from  him  ;  and  the  removal  of  one  of  the 
Governors  of  a  province  in  Turkey  where  massacres  had  occurred  jwas 
demanded.  This  was  done,  but  he  was  shortly  afterwards  givM  a 
more  honorable  position,  plainly  showing  that  it  was  in  the  nafl^reNjf 
a  reward  for  the  work  he  had  done.  This  Commission  of  InqWry 
demanded  that  reforms  should  be  made,  but  the  Turks  are  noted  for 
their  delays,  and  although  these  reforms  have  been  promised,  nothing 
has  yet  been  done. 

During  his  description  of  the  massacres,  views  of  different  cities  of 
Armenia,  where  they  occurred,  were  thrown  upon  the  screen.  Among 
them  were  Erzerum,  Sarsoun,  Sevas,  Harpoot,  Van,  Marsovan,  Caes- 
area  in  Capadocia,  Marash,  Zartoon,  etc.,  places  of  importance,  at  all 
of  which  many  of  the  Armenians  were  butchered,  their  shops  plun- 
dered, and  their  wives  and  daughters  forced  to  lives  worse  than 
those  of  slaves.  At  some  of  the  places  named  there  were  missionary 
stations  and  schools,  and  he  gave  graphic  descriptions  of  the  trials  and 
dangers  through  which  they  passed  during  the  massacres.  Prompt 
and  determined  action  on  the  part  of  the  missionaries  and  teachers, 


Fifteenth  hiternational  Convention.  75 

and  the  fear  of  the  United  States  government,  alone  saved  their  lives 
and  property.  Some  of  these  stations  have  lost  much  property  by 
fire,  amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars. 

These  massacres  are  still  going  on ;  in  the  city  of  Van,  about  two 
weeks  since,  there  were  many  of  the  Armenians  killed. 

There  is  great  need  of  funds  in  all  parts  of  Armenia  to  alleviate  the 
sufferings  and  to  keep  them  from  actual  starvation.  He  stated  that 
one  dollar  would  afford  bread  for  one  man  for  three  months,  or  for 
three  hundred  men  for  one  day.  The  Red  Cross  Society,  through 
Miss  Clara  Barton,  is  doing  a  good  work  among  these  people. 

The  United  States  has  done  a  great  deal  in  spreading  the  Gospel 
among  this  people,  and  through  the  power  represented  by  it  has  been 
the  means  of  protection  to  our  missionaries  and  teachers  there.  The 
United  States  flag  should  float  over  every  schoolhouse  and  every 
church,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  over  every  mission  school  and 
Christian  church  in  Armenia,  and  so  throw  the  protection  of  this  great 
Republic  around  Christianity. 

The  meeting  was  concluded  with  the  singing  of  Heber's  missionary 
hymn,  "From  Greenland's  Icy  Mountain,"  during  which  twelve  scenes, 
illustrative  of  the  words  of  the  song,  were  shown. 

The  service  closed  with  the  benediction  by  Dr.  Newman. 


THURSDAY    MORNING. 


THE   FIRST  MEETINGS   IN  THE  TENTS. 
Tent  Washington. 

The  great  Convention  began  Thursday  morning,  with  the  certainty 
that  the  tents  of  meeting  would  be  crowded,  for  there  were  only  two. 
Tent  Williston  was  level  with  the  ground.  Hours  of  steady  drizzle, 
followed  on  Wednesday  night  by  a  pouring  rain  and  a  strong  wind, 
were  too  much  for  the  mighty  spread  of  canvas.  The  night  watchmen 
and  patrols  were  zealous  and  faithful  in  their  inspection,  but  the  ground 
was  softened,  the  great  guy-ropes  snapped,  and  the  tent  collapsed  in  a 
deplorable  ruin.  Benches  were  swept  down  by  the  wild  rush  of  the 
canvas,  the  pretty  decorations  were  thrown  upon  the  ground,  and  later 
the  workmen  extricated  drenched  musical  instruments,  chairs,  and 
tables. 

This  disaster  was  a  tremendous  test,  but  Christian  Endeavor  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Churches  and  halls  were  opened  to  take  the 
place  of  Tent  Williston.  Tents  Washington  and  Endeavor  were  made 
dry  within,  and  extra  precautions  taken  to  make  them  abundantly  safe. 
Everybody  was  good-natured,  everybody  was  trustful  and  hopeful. 
Cried  Mr.  Foster,  announcing  the  opening  hymn,  "Let  us  sing  '  Praise 
God,  from    Whom    All    Blessings    Flow,'     including   the   blown-down 


76  Official  Report  of  the 

tent!"  Then,  as  was  appropriate  under  those  lowering  skies,  they 
sang,  "  There  's  Sunshine  in  My  Soul."  There  was  much  laughter 
when  Mr.  Foster  remarked,  in  announcing  the  next  hymn,  "  We  need 
the  showers  —  of  blessing." 

Dr.  Clark's  first  words  were,  "  Rain  can  not  drown  Christian  En- 
deavor, and  wind  can  not  blow  it  away,"  going  on  to  read  Job  xxxvi. 
27-29;  xxxvii.  21,  22,  "For  he  maketh  small  the  drops  of  water.  .  .  . 
Fair  weather  cometh  out  of  the  north."  That  was  the  spirit  with  which 
Christian  Endeavor  conquered  the  elements. 

The  gathering  of  the  clans  was,  as  usual,  spirited  and  happy.  What 
a  constant  surprise  and  marvel  are  these  vast  Christian  Endeavor  audi- 
ences !  What  an  eloquence  in  ten  thousand  eager  faces,  in  twenty 
thousand  speaking  eyes!  These  tremendous  companies  are  responsive 
and  flowing,  bursting  out  here  in  a  jolly  State  cry,  there  in  a  beautiful 
hymn  ;  now  springing  to  their  feet  with  cheers  of  greeting  to  some  hon- 
ored leader,  now  waving  flags  and  white  handkerchiefs  in  time  with  a 
popular  song,  and  in  an  instant  hushed  in  silent  prayer,  "  All  one  body, 
we;"  with  quick  sympathies,  with  swift  appreciations,  and  with  one 
strong,  common  purpose. 

In  this  year's  assembling  of  the  hosts,  the  presence  of  those  charm- 
ing flying  bits  of  color,  the  new  State  flags,  was  delightfully  noticeable. 
So  were  many  new  and  beautiful  State  songs.  And  all  the  good  old 
fervor  and  sparkle  were  there,  unquenchable  by  the  showers. 

The  fine  invocation  hymn,  written  for  us  by  the  Washington  poet, 
John  Hay,  was  read  in  unison  by  the  audiences,  and  sung  with  a  will. 

Invocation  Hymn. 

Tune,  Federal  Street. 

Written  for  the  Fifteenth  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 

By  Col.  John  Hay. 

Lord,  from  far-severed  climes  we  come 
To  meet  at  last  in  thee,  our  home. 
Thou  who  hast  been  our  guide  and  guard 
Be  still  our  hope,  our  rich  reward. 

Defend  us,  Lord,  from  every  ill ; 
Strengthen  our  hearts  to  do  Thy  will ; 
In  all  we  plan  and  all  we  do 
Still  keep  us  to  thy  service  true. 

Oh,  let  us  hear  the  inspiring  word 
Which  they  of  old  at  Horeb  heard. 
Breathe  to  our  hearts  the  high  command: 
"  Go  onward  and  possess  the  land  !  " 

Thou  who  art  Light,  shine  on  each  soul ! 
Thou  who  art  Truth,  each  mind  control ! 
Open  our  eyes  and  make  us  see 
The  path  which  leads  to  heaven  and  thee ! 

The  devotional  exercises  were  conducted  by  Rev.  F.  D.  Power,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Vermont  Avenue  Christian  Church  of  Washington. 

Then  Mr.  W.  H.  H.  Smith,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  '96,  was 


^S 


Fifteenth  International  Conve7ition.  77 

introduced  by  President  Clark  to  give    the  words  of    welcome.     Mr. 
Smith  received  a  royal  greeting. 

Address  of  Mr.  W.  H.  H.  Smith,  Washington,  D.  C. 

"  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

I  wish  it  were  possible  for  me  at  this  moment  to  sink  my  personality  out  of 
sight  and  to  be  to  you  only  a  voice,  and  that  the  voice  could  adequately  cry 
into  your  hearts  the  three  great  words  which  we  desire  shall  be  the  key-words 
of  the  Fifteenth  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention:  Welcome! 
Worship !  Work ! 

A  royal  welcome  from  the  government  of  these  United  States  of  America, 
which,  by  its  representatives  in  Congress,  without  a  dissenting  vote,  enacted 
tlie  law  granting  us  the  use  of  this  beautiful  and  spacious  public  reservation, 
and  by  its  executive  officers,  from  His  Excellency  the  President  to  the  heads 
and  assistants  in  the  several  departments,  has  helped  us  in  every  reasonable 
way  to  provide  for  your  comfort  and  to  greet  your  coming. 

A  hearty  welcome  from  the  honorable  commissioners,  officials,  citizens,  and 
press  of  this  city,  who  have  so  readily  and  generously  contributed  in  preparing 
for  your  pleasure  and  profit. 

A  sincere  welcome  from  the  clergy  of  all  denominations,  who,  without  a  word 
of  carping  or  criticism,  have  encouraged  us  in  all  of  our  plans. 

A  Christian  welcome  from  the  seventy-five  churches  which,  without  a  single 
request  from  us,  have  been  freely  placed  at  your  disposal  for  use  during  this 
Convention. 

A  loving  welcome  from  the  thousands  of  homes  whose  doors  have  been  flung 
wide  open  for  your  entertainment. 

A  great  welcome  from  the  Endeavorers  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Union, 
with  their  labors  and  sacrifices  in  your  behalf,  and  from  the  more  than  3,000 
workers  upon  the  several  committees  who  have  planned  and  toiled  for  you. 

A  glad  welcome  from  the  Epworth  Leagues  and  other  societies  who  have 
cheered  and  helped  us  in  many  ways,  and  who  join  with  us  in  swelling  this  great 
Convention  chorus  to  more  than  4.600  voices. 

Welcome  !  a  hundred  times  welcome  !  Welcome  to  all,  of  whatever  nation 
or  people  or  denomination,  who  own  allegiance  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Wel- 
come to  the  hearts  and  homes,  to  the  public  buildings  and  parks,  and  to  the 
wealth  of  the  beautiful,  interesting,  and  valuable  which  is  here  in  such  profu- 
sion to  thrill  and  fill  you  in  this,  our  great  nation's  capital. 

"  Welcome  to  heart  and  home; 

Welcome  to  Washington, 

Welcome  this  day." 

But  is  this  all?  Is  it  alone  for  the  earthly  fellowships,  the  social  meetings 
and  greetings,  good  and  glad  as  they  are,  that  we  have  been  so  long  and  so 
lovingly  preparing  for  you  with  such  enthusiasm  and  expectation  .?  I  am  sure 
that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  it  were  indeed  worth  the  discomforts,  weari- 
ness, and  expense  of  thousands  of  miles  of  travel  to  clasp  the  right  hand  of 
such  fellowship,  whose  left  holds  no  dagger,  to  knit  up  friendships,  which  weave 
in  heavenly  tissues,  and  to  color  into  your  lives  the  rich  treasures  of  interest 
and  information  which  you  can  receive  in  this  home  of  the  nation.  But  we 
want  more  than  this  for  you.  Dear  friends,  if  our  highest  hopes  for  you  are  to 
be  realized,  and  we  believe  they  are ;  if  our  most  earnest  longings  for  you  are 
to  be  satisfied,  and  we  are  confident  they  shall  be  ;  if  the  fulness  of  that  for 
which  we  have  planned,  prayed,  and  toiled  is  now  come  to  its  consummation, 
and  we  believe  it  has,  then  these  tents  are  the  tabernacles  of  God  and  you  are 
in  the  audience-chamber  of  your  King  and  have  come  to  meet  and  to  greet  the 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  our  Lord,  our  Saviour,  our  Brother,  our  one  Master, 
even  Christ.  Oh,  it  is  this,  it  is  this  we  wish  for  you.  May  he  appear  before 
you  in  every  prayer  and  song.  May  he  be  lifted  up  in  every  scripture  and 
address.  May  he  sit  beside  you  in  these  seats.  May  he  walk  with  you  through 
these  parks  and  streets.     May  his  Spirit  be  in  you  and  with  you.     Here  may 


78  Official  Report  of  the 

your  lives  be  fully  "hid  with  Christ  in  God."  May  this  be  a  real  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  where  you  shall  catch  somewhat  of  the  shining  of  his  face  and 
garments  and  realize  more  vividly  than  ever  before  the  tremendous  import  of 
a  work  which  stirs  the  interest  of  all  heaven. 

"  While  we  to  God  appeal, 

May  each  his  Spirit  feel, 

May  God  himself  reveal 

To  all,  we  pray." 

Once  again  shall  the  voice  cry  unto  you,  and  now  with  the  intense  cry  of 
practical  application  for  each  life.  Work !  What  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  all 
this  expenditure  of  money,  of  time,  and  of  life.-"  What  is  to  result  from  your 
audience  with  the  King.'*  Will  it  prove  .''  Will  it  pay?  If  there  is  one  thing 
more  than  another  for  which  I  love  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  it  is  for 
its  purposefulness, —  not  simply  to  be  something  good,  but  to  be  good  for  some- 
thing. And  so  I  am  sure  that  the  right  answer  shall  be  given.  You  can  not 
go  out  from  this  place  upon  the  same  level  as  you  entered.  God  grant  that  it 
may  be  marvelously  higher,  nobler,  purer,  for  the  most  intelligent,  intense,  and 
persevering  service  "for  Christ  and  the  Church."  We  may,  indeed,  wish  that  we 
could  build  our  little  mean  huts  of  earthliness  and  selfish  content,  hoping  to 
detain  some  heavenly  visitant,  upon  these  shining  summits  of  privilege;  but 
look  !  See  down  into  the  valleys  and  out  beyond  the  shining,  and  behold  the 
aching  hearts  and  the  twisted  and  blasted  lives  of  men,  made  at  the  first  in 
God's  own  image,  but  now  so  marred  out  of  divine  fashion,  who  need  your 
working  and  wearying  that  they  may  be  restored  to  self,  to  home,  and  to  heaven. 
See  the  sin-stained  and  demon-possessed  that  God  wants  to  reach  and  must 
reach  through  your  life  and  your  strength  with  his  own  cleansing  and  power. 
Behold  a  world  lying  in  wickedness,  stumbling  and  groping  on  in  blindness, 
with  the  eternities  just  before,  for  whom  Christ  died,  and  into  whose  lives  the 
Saviour  shall  come  only  as  he  comes  through  your  life  ;  and  then,  with  all  the 
wealth  of  all  you  shall  gather  into  your  life  here,  go  out  to  do  great  service  in 
the  midst  of  great  need,  and  sure  of  great  reward. 

If  our  devotion  to  your  interests  has  established  any  claim  to  your  affection, 
if  our  sacrifices  for  your  happiness  call  for  any  return  from  you,  if  our  efforts  in 
your  behalf  place  you  under  any  obligation  whatsoever,  then  by  so  much  and  to 
such  extent  as  we  have  any  right,  we  plead  with  and  command  you  to  "make  it 
pay,"  by  stepping  out  upon  a  higher  plane  and  a  broader  view  of  life  than  ever 
before,  into  every  place  where  the  Master  calls  you,  to  do  better  and  braver 
work  for  him  whose  incarnated  life  motto  was,  "not to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister."  So  shall  your  Christlier  life  answer  the  pertinent  question  of  this 
utilitarian  age,  and  by  every  soul  won  to  our  Master,  and  every  heart  helped  in 
his  service,  you  shall  "make  it  pay  "  over  and  over,  "make  it  pay  "  for  any- 
thing, everything,  done  for  you  and  for  this  Convention. 


"  Search  for  the  strayed  and  lost, 
Rescue  the  tempest-tossed, 
Save  men  at  any  cost ; 
To  God  be  true." 


^S 


The  voice  cries  unto  you  in  a  great  cry  of  passionate  longing,  Welcome ! 
Worship  !     Work  ! 

One  of  the  oldest  and  best  friends  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  Rev. 
Robert  J.  Service,  D.D.,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  then  made  a  response  to  the 
words  of  welcome. 

Address  of  Rev.  Robert  J.  Service,  D.D.,  Detroit,  Mich. 

Afr.  President  and  Felloiv  Endeavorers : — We  expected  a  warm  welcome 
when  we  came  to  Washington  and  we  certainly  have  not  been  disappointed. 
Knowing  the  gathering  that  assembles  from  year  to  year  on  Capitol  Hill,  we 
were  quite  confident  we  would  receive  a  windy  welcome,  and  in  that  we  have 
not  been  disappointed. 


Fifteenth  Internatiojial  Conventioji.  79 

But  I  am  sure  we  all  appreciate  most  heartily  the  gracious  and  the  generous 
words  of  welcome  to  which  we  have  just  listened,  and  especially  do  we  appre- 
ciate the  act  of  the  united  houses  of  Congress  in  granting  us  this  ground  upon 
which  to  pitch  our  tents.  As  grateful  guests,  we  propose  to  show  our  apprecia- 
tion of  your  generous  welcome  by  making  ourselves  perfectly  at  home.  That 
we  have  already  begun  to  do  so  the  keepers  of  the  hotels  and  boarding-houses 
and  the  generous  hosts  in  private  residences  can  testify,  I  am  sure. 

As  loyal  Americans,  we  feel  that  in  a  sense  this  capital  city  is  our  own ;  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  our  Canadian  brethren  who  are  present  already  wish  that 
they  possessed  that  delightful  sense  of  ownership.  Possibly  there  shall  go 
back  to  Canada's  realms  a  great  host  of  earnest  annexationists,  so  impressed 
with  our  national  hospitality  that  they  no  longer  have  any  fear  of  refusal  on 
our  part  to  receive  fair  Canada  into  the  galaxy  of  our  States. 

Coxey-like,  we  shall  probably  walk  upon  the  grass  and  congregate  in  the 
national  plaza.  Nor  do  we  fear  that  we  shall  be  compelled  to  follow  Father 
Clark  or  Secretary  Baer  to  your  prison  gates.  Were  Congress  in  session  we 
should  doubtless  invade  her  halls,  and,  impelled  by  the  imperative  necessities 
of  the  case,  should  perhaps  begin  missionary  work.  Possibly  the  fear  of  this 
has  led  to  the  early  adjournment  of  that  body. 

Heartily,  most  heartily,  do  we  thank  you  for  your  generous  welcome;  and 
with  all  due  modesty,  may  I  say  we  believe  we  deserve  it  1 

Representatives  we  are  of  2,600,000  of  Christian  Endeavorers  whose  sole 
object  is  to  do  good  to  their  fellows,  to  lift  the  standard  of  human  life,  to  make 
better  citizens,  to  keep  our  government  pure,  that  it  may  be  stable  and  enduring. 

History  tells  us  that  the  life  of  republics  is  only  about  one  hundred  years. 
Then  comes  decay  and  death.  Wise,  far-seeing  men  in  our  own  land  already 
begin  to  discern  clouds  rising  in  our  sky  that  threaten  tempest  and  storm  to  our 
national  and  social  life.  Possibly  their  intense  love  of  their  country  is  the  mother 
of  their  fears.  Be  that  as  it  may,  all  agree  and  recognize  that  if  that  for  which 
Christian  Endeavor  stands  can  prevail,  these  clouds  will  vanish  as  the  mists 
before  the  morning  sun. 

As  truly  defenders  of  our  national  honor  and  stability  are  the  hosts  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  as  were  the  boys  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  who 
marched  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue  in  the  dark  days  of  186 1.  Right  gladly  did 
this  city  welcome  those  boys  from  the  North  as  her  defenders,  as  tliey  have 
welcomed  us  to-day  ;  and  I  believe  that  no  portion  of  our  great  United  Republic 
to-day  more  rejoices  in  the  success  that  crowned  the  armies  of  those  days  than, 
our  brethren  from  the  South.  I  believe  that  to-day  no  section  of  our  country 
is  so  devotedly  loyal  and  true  to  our  United  Republic  as  are  they. 

To  check  vice  and  sin  in  individual  and  national  life,  to  keep  before  men  the 
divine  ideal,  to  awaken  in  the  consciousness  of  mankind  the  sense  of  a  Father- 
hood enveloping  men  in  his  love,  and  the  consequent  sense  of  human  brother- 
hood, whereby  injustice  between  man  and  man,  whereby  class  distinctions  with 
their  threatening  dangers  and  perils,  shall  be  done  away  with  ;  whereby  in  homes, 
in  factories,  in  business  marts,  in  legislative  halls,  and  at  the  polls  men  in  purity 
and  righteousness  shall  act  as  children  of  the  one  Father,  and  brethren  together; 
—  this  is  one  of  the  objects  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  this  will  render  any 
nation  immortal. 

What  youth  has  done  for  the  world  we  all  realize  in  every  line  and  department 
of  life.  "We  gather  here  with  youthful  enthusiasm  to  advance  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  and  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  Slowly,  but  surely,  the  Church  is 
beginning  to  recognize,  under  the  press  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  that  she 
received  her  divine  commission  not  as  a  hospital  but  as  an  army,  and  that  there 
is  a  place  for  every  one  in  the  field.  Already,  under  the  press  of  the  army 
idea,  the  Christian  Endeavor  idea,  the  Christ  idea,  cots  that  have  abounded  in 
the  court  of  Israel,  containing  dyspeptic  sons,  are  being  folded,  as  they  march 
with  us  in  the  ranks  of  the  army  of  Christ. 

I  look  upon  this  as  a  great  council  of  war,  gathered  together  to  plan  for  the 
campaign  of  the  Christ.  May  we  all  carry  back  to  our  different  divisions,  and 
regiments,  the  martial  spirit,  the  spirit  of  our  Divine  Saviour  in  his  tireless,  per- 


80  Official  Report  of  the 

sistent,  conquering  war  with  the  hosts  of  evil;  and  let  our  response  to  the 
warmth  of  our  generous  welcome  here  be  in  the  harvest  of  souls,  be  in  purified 
life,  be  in  more  devoted,  persistent,  loyal  service  to  the  Captain  whom  we  love 
and  whom  we  serve. 

Rev.  Wayland  Hoyt,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  then  took  the  post  of 
presiding  officer.  Said  he,  "  The  same  unkind  winds  not  only  to  some 
degree  disarranged  Tent  Williston,  but  necessarily  also  disarranged 
somewhat  our  programme.  So  there  must  be  some  change  in  the 
order.  I  do  not  think  you  will  object  at  all  to  the  change  necessitated 
just  now,  for  the  thing  next  in  order  is  the  presentation  of  his  annual 
address  by  President  Clark.  He  said  to  me  just  now,  'Introduce  me.' 
What  is  the  use  ?  A  man  might  just  as  well  say  to  himself,  '  Introduce 
me  to  myself,'  as  for  a  Christian  Endeavor  throng  to  need  to  have 
President  Clark  introduced  to  them." 

Then  the  tent  swelled  with  the  cheer  that  went  up.  Again  and 
again  it  died  away,  only  to  be  caught  up  again  and  redoubled.  For 
several  minutes  President  Clark  stood  the  centre  of  a  whirlwind  of 
enthusiasm.  He  tried  several  times  to  speak,  but  his  voice  could  not 
be  heard  two  feet  away.  He  waited,  patiently,  until  the  fervor  of  the 
Endeavorers  had  exhausted  itself;  then  he  went  on,  but  only  to  be 
interrupted  every  few  moments  by  the  applause  that  punctuated  his 
words. 

Address  of  President  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D. 

Fellow  Christian  Endeavorers :  —  This  is  a  good  year  to  build  platforms. 
Several  have  been  constructed  already.  From  the  great  metropolis  of  the 
West  we  can  almost  hear  the  resounding  blows  of  hammer  and  chisel  as, 
in  another  platform,  plank  is  fitted  to  plank. 

Our  Christian  Endeavor  platform  was  built  for  us  at  the  beginning  by  Prov- 
idence.    Its  strength  has  been  revealed  by  our  history. 

My  task  is  an  easy  one,  for  I  only  need  write  in  words  what  I  believe  God 
has  written  in  deeds. 

If  I  do  not  state  our  platform  correctly,  I  do  not  ask  you  to  stand  upon  it. 

But  if  I  can  read  our  history  aright,  these  are  its  chief  planks:  — 

First.  Our  Covenant  Prayer-meeting  Pledge, — the  Magna  Omrta  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor.  { 

Second.  Oiir  Co7tsecration  Meeting, — guaranteeing  the  spixtt%al  character 
of  the  Society.  X^^ 

Third.  Our  Conitnittees, — giving  to  each  active  member  some  specific  and 
definite  work  ""for  Christ  and  the  CJiiirch.'" 

Fourth.  Our  Interdenominational  and  International  Fellowship,  based 
upon  our  dcnofninational  and  national  loyalty. 

Fifth.  Our  Individual  Independence  and  Self-government,  free  from  con- 
trol of  United  Society,  State  or  local  union,  convention,  or  committee j  all  of 
which  exist  for  fellowship  and  inspiration,  7iot  for  legislation. 

Sixth.  Our  Individual  Subordination  as  societies  to  our  own  churches,  of 
which  we  claim  to  be  an  integral,  organic,  inseparable  part. 

Seventh.  Our  Christian  Citizenship  platik, —  our  country  for  Christ,  but, 
as  a  Society,  no  entarigling political  alliances.  Otir  Missiofiary  plank, —  Christ 
for  the  world. 

Eighth.  Our  Ultimate  Purpose,  —  to  deepen  the  spiritual  life  and  raise  the 
religious  standards  of  young  people  the  world  over. 

For  fifteen  years  Christian  Endeavor  has  built  upon  this  platform.  The 
history  of  the  Society  which  has  wrought  out  in  practice  these  principles  maybe 


FifteejitJi  International  Convention.  ~  81 

briefly  summarized,  so  far  as  words  and  figures  can  summarize  a  movement,  as 
follows :  — 

Forty-six  thousand  societies  have  been  formed. 

Five  milHons  of  Endeavorers  have  been  enrolled,  of  whom  more  than  two 
millions  seven  hundred  thousand  are  to-day  members. 

Two  millions  of  others,  Endeavorers  in  all  but  name,  have  probably  been 
enrolled  in  purely  denominational  societies. 

Ten  million  Endeavor  meetings  have  been  held. 

Five  million  copies  of  the  constitution  have  undoulDtedly  been  printed,  in 
forty  different  languages,  and  at  least  fifteen  million  copies  of  the  pledge. 

Over  one  million  of  our  associate  members  have  come  into  the  evangelical 
churches  connected  with  fifty  denominations,  influenced  in  part,  at  least,  by 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society;  and  it  is  certain  that  over  two  millions  of 
dollars  have  been  given  in  benevolence  through  denominational  and  church 
channels. 

"  The  past  at  least  is  secure,"  we  say.  But  ah  !  is  it .?  Not  unless  we  secure 
the  future  by  learning  the  lessons  of  the  past.  The  future  stretches  before  us, — 
ten  times  fifteen  years  of  Christian  Endeavor,  please  God,  and  ten  times  that. 
We  stand  yet  at  the  beginnings,  fellow  Endeavorers.  The  stream  is  yet  near 
its  source.  _  Our  concern  should  be  not  to  deflect  it  into  any  channels  of  our 
own  choosing.  Let  God  choose  its  way  and  direct  its  course,  as  he  has  done 
these  fifteen  years,  and  then  the  future,  too,  is  secure.  "  We  have  but  one  lamp 
by  which  our  feet  are  guided,  and  that  is  the  lamp  of  experience."  By  the  past 
what  does  God  teach  us  for  the  future? 

Let  me  try,  as  best  1  may,  to  draw  out  the  lessons.  Christian  Endeavor,  as 
our  platform  shows,  is  a  practical  paradox,  a  reconciler  of  irreconcilables.  It 
has  married  opposites.  It  has  brought  into  an  harmonious  family,  ideas  which 
have  been  thought  to  be  mutually  exclusive.  I  am  tempted  to  consider  this  the 
most  important  work  of  Christian  Endeavor,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past. 

Our  platform  specifies  some  of  the  banns  that  have  been  proclaimed  by 
Christian  Endeavor. 

First.  It  has  married  the  ideas  of  denominational  fidelity  and  fellowship 
between  denominations,  and  has  written  on  the  door-posts  of  the  home  thus 
formed :  "  Fidelity  and  Fellowship,  one  and  inseparable." 

These  ideas  have  been  thought  by  many  to  be  inconsistent,  if  not  hostile,  one 
to  the  other.  Hence,  many  ecclesiastics  are  to-day  afraid  of  our  fellowship 
because  they  believe  it  will  weaken  our  fidelity.  Christian  Endeavor,  sooner  or 
later,  will  show  them  the  groundlessness  of  their  fears. 

By  combining  these  disassociated  ideas.  Christian  Endeavor  has  created  a 
new  idea,  which  has  required  a  new  word,  —  a  word  which  is  found  only  in 
the  very  latest  dictionary,  —  the  word  "interdenominational;"  a  denomination- 
alism  which  is  not  sectarianism  on  the  one  side  or  care-nothing-ism  on  the  other. 
Mind  your  prefixes.  Christian  Endeavorers  ;  not  "un,"  nor  "non,"  but  "inter." 

Closely  linked  with  this  idea  of  Interdenominational  Fellowship  is  that  other 
great  idea  of  International  Fellowship.  Look  at  these  intertwined  flags  !  They 
tell  their  own  story.  They  tell  of  our  intense  love  for  our  own  flag, —  the  Stars 
and  Stripes,  "  Old  Glory,"  if  we  live  in  the  United  States ;  the  Union  Jack,  if  we 
live  in  Canada  or  Great  Britain.  Interlinked  as  they  are,  they  tell  of  our  world- 
wide brotherhood.  Our  Society  is  an  arbitration  meeting  which  never  adjourns, 
a  peace-with-honor  convention  that  is  always  in  session.  On  these  banners  is 
written:  "Loyalty  and  Brotherhood,  one  and  inseparable." 

Second.  Again,  if  our  platform  is  correct.  Christian  Endeavor  stands  for  a 
self-governed  society  that  is  yet  wholly  governed  by  its  own  church.  I  know  of 
no  way  of  developing  responsibility  except  by  bearing  responsibility.  That 
man  and  that  society  will  always  be  a  dwarf  and  weakling  that  is  ever  managed 
by  some  one  else.  In  comparison  with  such  a  man,  Mr.  Caudle  behind  the 
bed-curtain  will  be  independent  and  self-respecting. 

Each  society  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  in  a  sense  independent.  It  works  out 
its  own  problems.  It  is  responsible  for  its  own  success  or  failure.  It  lives  or 
dies  according  to  its  own  inherent  worth.    It  manages  its  own  matters.    It  elects 


82  Official  Report  of  the 

its  own  officers.  It  plans  its  own  campaigns.  But  it  is  always  subordinate  to  its 
own  church,  and  seeks  to  find  out  and  obey  the  wishes  of  its  own  church  and 
pastor. 

Let  me  here  take  occasion  to  pledge  myself  to  the  Christian  public,  if  I  may 
be  allowed  to  speak  in  any  sense  as  a  representative  of  Christian  Endeavor. 
No  United  Society  and  no  convention,  no  union,  and  no  committee  of  evangel- 
ism, good  citizenship,  or  missions,  shall  legislate  for,  or  seek  to  control,  any 
society  in  the  wide  world. 

More  and  more  strongly  every  year  is  this  principle  of  Christian  Endeavor 
established,  which  indeed  has  been  fundamental  from  the  beginning, —  that  each 
society  owes  allegiance  to  its  own  church.  Some  churches  have  taken  advantage 
of  this  principle  of  subordination  to  compel  their  Christian  Endeavor  Societies 
to  commit  suicide,  to  go  out  of  existence,  or  to  label  themselves  with  a  local  or 
sectarian  name.  Is  this  entirely  fair?  I  appeal  confidently  to  the  Christian 
public  of  the  future,  to  the  sense  of  justice  in  the  church  at  large,  for  my  answer. 

Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  advantage  sometimes  taken  of  this  princi- 
ple. Christian  Endeavor  has  proclaimed  the  banns  once  more  over  these  two 
apparently  dissimilar  ideas,  —  Self-government  and  Subordination.  It  has  mar- 
ried these  disassociated  thoughts,  each  of  which  is  incomplete  without  the  other ; 
each  of  which  is  puny  and  weak  without  the  other;  each  of  which  is  comple- 
mented and  supplemented  by  the  other.  It  has  married  them,  and  has  written 
on  the  lintel  of  their  door:    "Obedience  and   Independence,   one  and 

INSEPARABLE." 

Third.  Again,  our  platform  embraces  Patriotism  and  Humanity.  Patriot- 
ism is  a  name  that  is  used  to  cover  a  multitude  of  sins.  "  It  is  the  last  resort  of 
designing  knaves,"  said  Johnson.  It  has  been  made  to  stand  for  partisanship 
and  to  mask  hideous  corruption.  It  needs  to  be  married  to  another  idea,  —  the 
idea  of  humanity.     This  Christian  Endeavor  has  attempted  to  do. 

Our  patriotic  fervor  was  born  at  the  same  time  as  our  missionary  fervor. 
Good  citizenship  and  missions  have  gone  hand  in  hand.  "  America  for  Christ" 
had  not  ceased  to  echo  before  we  took  up  the  cry  "  Christ  for  the  world."  Good 
citizenship  has  too  often  meant  in  the  lands  where  its  slogan  has  been  sounded, 
"America  for  the  Americans,"  "Canada  for  the  Canadians,"  "Great  Britain 
for  the  British,"  "Japan  for  the  Japanese."  Christian  citizenship  means  some- 
thing more  than  this.  It  means  our  country  for  Christ,  and  Christ  for  the  world. 
It  means  good  rulers  and  good  laws.  It  means  the  abolition  of  the  saloon.  It 
means  prohibition  wherever  we  can  get  it.  It  means  Sabbath  observance.  It 
means  inflexible  opposition  to  all  unrighteousness — not  simply  that  America  may 
be  the  greatest  nation  on  which  the  sun  rises,  not  simply  tliart'  Britain's  drum- 
beat may  be  heard  around  the  world,  but  above  all,  that  "  P^s  kingdom  may 
come,  and  his  will  may  be  done,  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. \^ 

By  Christian  Endeavor,  then,  we  marry  the  too-often  draasBociated  ideas, 
patriotism  and  humanity.    Christian  Citizenship  and  Christian  Missions, 

ONE  AND  inseparable. 

Fourth.  Our  Christian  Endeavor  platform,  once  more,  stands  for  Organi- 
zation ;  it  stands  for  Spiritual  Power.  These  two  great  ideas,  alas  !  have  too 
often  been  set  over  against  one  another.  They  have  been  divorced  and  sun- 
dered far.  Come,  Christian  Endeavor,  thou  white-robed  peacemaker,  and 
pronounce  the  banns  which  shall  make  organization  and  spiritual  power  forever 
one  ! 

Two  wings  are  essential  to  the  bird  that  would  soar  toward  the  sun.  Organ- 
ization is  one  wing,  spirituality  is  another.  A  poor,  broken-winged  eagle  is  that 
church  or  society  that  fails  to  use  both  wings. 

Organization  without  spiritual  power  is  the  perfect  engine  standing  upon  the 
track  with  no  fire  under  the  boiler,  no  steam  in  the  pipes.  It  is  a  dumb,  dead, 
impotent  thing. 

Spirituality  without  organization  is  the  fire  upon  the  prairie,  kindling  a 
blaze,  but  driving  no  wheels,  turning  no  turbines,  energizing  no  whirring  looms 
or  flying  shuttles.  This,  too,  is  an  impotent,  evanescent  thing.  But  spirituality 
and  organization  may  move  the  world. 


Fifteenth  hiternational  Convention.  83 

We  have  the  organization  practically  complete, —  our  covenant  pledge,  our 
consecration  meeting,  our  committees,  our  unions.  Our  future  conquest  is  a  ques- 
tion of  spiritual  power,  and  that,  O  Christian  Endeavorers,  you  must  furnish. 
Spiritual  power  abides  not  in  the  machinery  of  itself,  but  it  may  be  had  for  the 
asking.  Listen  to  the  promise.  Christian  Endeavorer :  "  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive ; 
seek  and  ye  shall  find."  Spiritual  power  is  as  free  as  the  sunlight,  as  mighty  as 
the  tides.  It  is  as  abundant  as  electricity,  but,  like  electricity,  it  must  be  gener- 
ated.    It  is  as  omnipotent  as  God,  but  it  must  be  applied. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  history  of  this  past  year  is  the  story  of  this  power. 
Its  dominant  note  has  been  "Evangelism."  "Saved  to  serve"  has  been  its 
motto.  The  "  new  Endeavor  "  may  be  summarized  as  the  evangelistic  Endeavor, 
and  wise  evangelism  is  spiritual  power  applied. 

O  Endeavorers,  this  is  your  supreme  mission.  Be  the  conductors  of  this 
spiritual  electricity.  Be  the  willing  wires,  the  live  wires,  along  which  may  run 
the  power  of  God  to  every  part  of  our  organization.  This  is  the  one,  the  only, 
secret  of  true  success, — "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,"  not  by  organization  nor  by 
perfection  of  machinery,  not  by  committees,  not  by  methods,  "  but  by  my  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord,"  working  through  committees  and  methods  and  organization. 

Oh  that  by  some  word  of  burning  eloquence  I  might  lay  this  thought  on  the 
heart  of  every  Endeavorer  throughout  the  world  !  This  word  is  not  mine  to 
speak.  It  is  not  any  man's  to  utter.  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Comforter, 
speak  thou  the  word  that  makes  our  organization  live. 

But  I  ca?i,  I  do,  urge  yoii  to  make  this  the  Christian  Endeavor  watchword 
of  the  coming  year.  Each  year  of  the  fifteen  years  has  been  noted  for  some 
advance  step.  Each  convention  has  been  signalized  by  some  great  thought. 
"  Citizenship,"  "  Missions,"  "  Fellowship,"  have  been  our  watchwords  at  conven- 
tions past,  and  they  are  our  watchwords  still ;  for  a  step  once  gained  we  will  not 
lose.  And  here  is  the  greatest  word,  and  best  of  all :  Spiritual  Power.  "  Wash- 
ington '96  "  —  may  it  live  in  history  as  the  Convention  of  God's  power!  1S96-7, 
the  year  of  God's  energizing  might  in  Christian  Endeavor  ! 

Then,  as  steel  and  copper,  hitherto  unweldable  metals,  are  welded  together 
by  the  mighty,  subtle  power  of  electricity  in  a  union  so  complete  that  no  human 
eye  can  find  the  seam,  so,  by  the  fusing  might  of  God's  Spirit  in  Christian 
Endeavor,  will  be  welded  together  T^^/i'/Z/y  that  is  trite  and  felloivship  that  is 
large-hearted,  responsibility  that  makes  strong  and  loyalty  that  makes  humble 
and  gentle,  patriotis7n  a)id  Jutmanity,  organization  atid  spi7'itual power,  now 
atidforeiier,  one  and  inseparable.   And  "  what  God  hath  joined  together, 

LET  not  man  put  ASUNDER." 

After  the  applause  had  subsided  Dr.  Hoyt  said  :  — 

Christian  Endeavor  is  no  whim  or  waft  of  sentiment.  It  stands  for  some- 
thing. It  has  principles.  You  have  heard  these  principles  summarized  and 
admirably  explicated  in  this  splendid  address  to  which  you  have  just  been  listen- 
ing. Would  it  not  be  a  good  thing  if  we  had  something  to  do  ourselves  with 
the  reaffirmation  of  these  principles  of  Christian  Endeavor  which  have  been 
thus  so  clearly  announced  by  President  Clark  ?  I  think,  if  we  all  of  us  state 
back  to  him  that  these  are  the  principles  that  we  stand  on  as  Christian  Endeav- 
orers, that  these  are  the  principles  that  we  are  bound  to  work  by,  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  for  him,  and  a  good  thing  for  us,  and  for  all  Christian  Endeavorers 
associated  with  us.  I  propose  that  we  make  such  response  of  reaffirmation,  and 
that  we  do  it  in  two  ways,  but  at  the  same  time,  —  by  posture  and  by  voice.  I  pro- 
pose that  if  it  shall  please  you  we  all  rise  and  so  express  by  posture  our  reaffir- 
mation of  Christian  Endeavor  principles,  and  that  when  I  count  three,  and  say 
three,  you  shall  by  voice  reannounce  and  reaffirm  them  by  saying  all  together, 
and  just  as  loudly  as  you  can,  "  Aye." 

The  entire  audience  arose,  and  with  mighty  shout  ^ave  their  testi- 
mony. The  next  feature  of  the  programme  Dr.  Hoyt  introduced  by 
saying :  — 

We  who  live  under  this  flag  have   got   to  be   somewhat  disappointed,   I 


84  Official  Report  of  the 

imagine,  but  nevertheless  we  will  congratulate  our  brethren  who  live  under  the 
British  flag.  In  Christian  Endeavor  it  is  pretty  nearly  all  the  same.  These 
badge  banners  that  mean  so  much,  that  represent  sacrifice  and  service  and 
pioneer  endeavor,  will  remain  thia  year  under  the  shadow  of  the  flag  of  Great 
Britain  instead  of  getting  back  under —  I  will  say  it  —  the  better  shining  flag 
of  the  United  States. 

You  will  remember  that  last  year  the  badge  banner  which  was  given  for  the 
greatest  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  societies  during  the  last  year 
went  from  somewhere  in  the  United  States  away  up  into  the  northwest  corner 
of  North  America,  over  which  floats  the  British  flag,  and  now  it  is  going 
a  good  way  from  Assiniboia.  It  is  going  across  the  ocean,  and  it  is  still 
going  to  remain  under  the  British  flag.  The  banner  representing  the  greatest 
proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  societies  during  the  last  twelve  months 
is  to  go  to  Scotland.  We  have  a  very  eloquent  and  admirable  gentleman  with 
us,  who  is  to  receive  this  banner.  It  goes  to  Scotland,  and  it  is  to  be  received 
by  the  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli,  of  Manchester,  England,  who  has  been  called  to  a 
great  church  in  Scotland.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  is  going  there,  but  at  any 
rate,  he  is  Scotch  for  the  present,  and  he  will  receive  the  banner. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli. 

Fellow  Endeavorers : — It  is  never  a  very  pleasant  thing  to  stand  in  any 
one's  else  shoes,  and  particularly  in  those  of  a  Scotchman.  1  must  confess,  how- 
ever, that  until  I  came  to  America  I  often  wished  that  I  had  been  born  a  Scotch- 
man. Just  now  the  attractions  of  your  great  country  are  in  the  ascendant,  but 
I  must  say  that  I  feel  a  return  of  the  old  desire  as  I  look  upon  this  banner  and 
envy  the  possession  of  this  banner  by  Scotland.  I  wish  also  that  I  could 
worthily  express  the  gratitude  of  Scotland  for  the  honor  done  to  her  by  the  gift 
of  this  banner  to-day. 

Though  I  am  not  a  Scotchman,  I  know  a  good  deal  about  that  country,  and 
have  seen  much  of  the  work  Christian  Endeavor  has  done  there.  We  in  Great 
Britain  rejoice  in  nothing  more  than  in  the  progress  which  Scotland  has  made 
during  the  last  few  years  in  her  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Under  the 
splendid  leadership  of  Mr.  Fleming  and  Mr.  Pollock,  whom  you  know,  I  think, 
and  others,  Scotland  has  made  wonderful  progress.  As  you  understand,  she 
receives  the  banner  this  year  for  proportionate  increase.  —  more  than  fifty  per 
cent  increase  in  both  societies  and  membership.  In  1S95  she  had  200  societies; 
for  1S96  she  rejoices  in  315.  Her  membership  last  year  was  9,500;  this  year  it 
stands  at  14.500.  q 

I  should  like  to  say,  especially  at  this  Convention,  jm^  I  heard  a  few  weeks 
ago  from  a  distinguished  layman  in  Scotland.  He  sSid^  me,  "  Our  churches 
in  Scotland  are  hungering  for  a  deeper  spiritual  life  ;  "  aTTn  I  feel  that  it  is  very- 
significant  indeed  that  Scotland  should  receive  the  banner  from  "the  deepening- 
of-spiritual-Iife  Convention,"  if  I  may  so  call  the  Washington  Convention  of 
'96.  On  behalf  of  Scotland,  therefore,  the  land  of  John  Knox,  the  land  of  the 
Covenanters,  the  land  of  Thomas  Chalmers,  the  land  of  Thomas  Guthrie,  I 
very  gratefully  accept  this  banner.  I  promise,  on  behalf  of  Scotland,  that  we 
shall  take  good  care  of  it ;  we  hope  we  shall  keep  it  for  many  years  to  come, 
and  that  you  yourselves,  when  you  come  to  one  of  our  great  conventions  in 
England  or  Scotland,  v/ill  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  this  banner  there  at  that 
time.  I  am  sure  that  whenever  we  look  upon  this  banner  in  Scotland  we  shall 
feel  a  special  inspiration  as  we  think  of  the  marvelous  work  that  God  has 
wrought  in  this  Convention  at  Washington  in  1896.     Many  thanks. 

As  he  sat  down,  a  delegate  arose  in  the  rear  of  the  tent  and  called 
for  "three  cheers  for  old  Scotland,"  and  they  were  given  with  a  will. 
Dr.  Hoyt  then  said  :  — 

I  saw  a  statue  of  Mercury  the  other  day.  It  was  lithe  of  form,  and  the  face 
of  it  looked  as  though  the  brain  of  the  deity  was  alert.     It  was  swift  of  foot. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  85 

When  I  saw  it,  I  somehow  thought  of  Secretary  Baer.  I  said,  "  Secretary  Baer 
is  the  Christian  Endeavor  Mercury."  There  is  not  an  ounce  of  superfluous  fiesh 
on  him.  He  is  just  as  quick  of  mind  as  Mercury  ever  was,  and  he  is  just  as 
swift  going  about.  He  is  everywhere.  He  does  not  need  any  introduction. 
Secretary  Baer  will  now  present  his  annual  report. 

Mr.  Baer  came  forward,  and  this  was  the  signal  for  another  cyclonic 
disturbance.  Cries  of  "'  Baer,  Baer,  Secretary  Baer,"  rang  out  every- 
where, and  the  young  man  was  unable  to  proceed  for  some  minutes. 
Then  he  went  on  with  his  address,  which  was  received  with  applause 
and  cheers  as  the  various  states  and  nations  were  mentioned. 

Annual  Report  of  Secretary  John  Willis  Baer. 

Christian  Endeavor,  —  "  //  is  tike  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  a  man 
took,  and  cast  into  fiis  garden;  and  it  grew,  a)id  waxed  a  great  tree j  and  tlie 
fowlsof  tJie  air  todged  in  the  brandies  of  it.''''     (Luke  xiii.  19.) 

Those  few  lines  give  a  brief  and  most  accurate  account  of  the  beginning  and 
the  progress  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Wonderful  indeed  has  been  its  growth. 
Paul  has  planted,  and  Apollos  has  watered,  but  God  has  given  the  increase. 
Yea,  verily,  the  mustard-seed  cast  into  Dr.  Clark's  garden,  the  Williston  Church, 
Portland,  Me.,  fifteen  years  ago,  has  waxed  a  great  tree. 

I  know  very  well  that  there  is  a  law  in  the  vegetable  life  which  says  that 
what  grows  most  rapidly  generally  decays  earliest,  and  that  some  "good  and 
wise  men  "  have  for  that  reason  likened  Christian  Endeavor  to  Jonah's  gourd, 
"which,"  you  know,  "came  up  in  a  night  and  perished  in  anight."  Let  me 
remind  those  good  friends,  if  their  line  is  still  in  the  earth,  that  the  prophet 
says,  "  God  prepared  a  worm,  and  smote  the  gourd,  and  it  withered." 

It  has  been  said  that  "the  least  in  nature  is  a  better  illustration  of  divine 
truth  than  the  greatest  object  of  art,"  and  it  seems  to  me  that  Christian 
Endeavor,  with  its  mighty,  God-given  growth,  is  more  appropriately  comparable 
to  the  life  in  the  little  mustard-seed,  the  least  of  all  seeds,  than  to  the  most 
famous  creation  of  art  that  skilled  man  has  produced.  The  whirligig  of  time 
has  sped  on  these  fifteen  years,  and  Christian  Endeavor  grows,  and  has  already 
waxed  a  great  tree,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air  lodge  in  its  branches;  and  I,  for 
one,  am  confident  God  has  not  prepared  a  worm  with  which  to  smite  it  in  a 
night,  or  in  a  year,  or  in  a  decade  ;  no,  never! 

Now  let  us  count  the  branches  on  this  great  tree.  It  is  a  task  upon  which 
we  enter  with  enthusiasm.  Of  the  states  and  provinces  that  now  have  each  over 
one  thousand  Young  People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  Keystone 
State  of  Pennsylvania  still  heads  the  list,  with  3,273;  New  York  next,  2,971; 
Ohio,  2,311  ;  Ontario  has  now  passed  to  fourth  place,  with  1,817  ;  Illinois,  1,802; 
Indiana,  1,352;  Iowa,  1,302. 

These  figures  do  not  include  the  numerous  other  kinds  of  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies  that  are  now  fast  becoming  sturdy  branches  of  the  mother 
tree,  such  as  the  Junior,  the  Intermediate,  the  Mothers',  and  the  Senior. 

The  Junior  branch  claims  our  first  attention.  God  be  praised  for  its 
growth.  It  is  said  a  root  of  corn  would  grow  an  inch  in  fifteen  minutes,  and 
the  Junior  branch  bids  fair  to  surpass  that.  There  are  now  10,084  Junior  Socie- 
ties. Pennsylvania  leads  with  1,224,  then  New  York  not  very  far  behind  with 
1,104;  Illinois,  836;  Ohio,  716:  Indiana,  498;  Iowa,  468;  Massachusetts,  461; 
California,  442.  Notwithstanding  many  of  the  States  have  made  splendid 
advances  in  Junior  Societies,  Pennsylvania  will  for  the  third  time  secure  the 
Junior  badge  banner  for  the  largest  gain  in  number  of  Junior  Societies. 

And  the  other  banner,  now  in  the  hands  of  Assiniboia,  must  pass  across  two 
imaginary  lines  to  our  enterprising  neighbors  in  Mexico,  for  her  record  for  the 
greatest  proportionate  increase  in  number  of  Junior  Societies  is  far  ahead  of  all 
others. 

Next  in  numerical  strength  comes  the  Intermediate  Society.     When  this 


86  Official  Report  of  the 

branch  first  put  forth  its  stem,  we  know  not ;  it  is  but  a  few  years  old,  but 
promises  richly.  In  many  large  churches  there  is  need  of  banding  the  older 
Juniors  together,  for  aggressive  work,  preparatory  to  their  graduating  into  the 
Young  People's  Society.  There  are  now  115  Intermediate  Societies  enrolled, 
and  many  more  of  which  we  have  no  record.  Illinois  leads  with  17  recorded. 
California,  Indiana,  and  Ohio  each  have  11  enrolled.  Another  year's  growth  of 
this  branch  will  be  watched  with  interest,  as  will  that  of  still  two  other  new 
branches,  the  Mothers'  Society  and  the  Senior  Society.  There  are  50  of  the 
former  and  20  of  the  latter.  Illinois  leads  in  both,  having  21  Mothers'  and  4 
Senior  Societies.  New  Hampshire  and  Pennsylvania  each  report  3  Senior 
Societies,  and  Kansas,  11  Mothers',  and  Pennsylvania,  7. 

These  three  last  branches  named.  Intermediate,  Mothers',  and  Senior,  like 
the  Junior  and  Young  People's,  have  great  promise  of  power,  athrill  with  life  as 
they  are.  As  the  Junior  is  for  the  boys  and  girls,  the  Intermediate  for  the  lads 
and  lassies,  the  Young  People's  for  the  young  men  and  women,  the  Christian 
Endeavor  succession  graduates  into  the  Mothers'  and  Seniors.  As  one  pastor 
says,  "  It  is  not  too  much  to  hope  and  predict  that  the  churches  will  gradually 
welcome  tlie  application  of  Christian  Endeavor  principles  to  all  their  activities. 
These  principles  underlie  all  Christian  work,  and  by  the  force  of  their  inherent 
reasonableness  have  the  right  of  general  application ;  and  the  day  draws  on 
apace  when  the  Church  will  foster  the  Christian  E^ndeavor  'idea'  as  another 
method,  like  unto  the  Sunday  school,  subordinate  to  itself,  and  will  do  through 
it  its  manifold  work." 

We  liave  not  time  to  investigate  the  branches  in  schools,  in  colleges ;  in  public 
institutions  of  all  kinds,  in  prisons  and  schools  of  reform,  in  almshouses,  asylums, 
institutions  for  the  blind,  etc.;  on  board  ships,  men-of-war;  at  navy-yards;  in 
life-stations  and  among  life-savers;  among  the  boys  in  blue  in  United  States 
barracks;  in  large  factories;  among  car-drivers,  policemen,  and  patrolmen  ;  in 
the  Traveller's  Union,  etc. ;  but  we  cannot  pass  by  the  growth  of  the  Canadian 
and  foreign  branches,  for  they  next  attract  our  admiration.  All  Canada  has 
3,292  societies,  and  in  foreign  and  missionary  lands  there  are  now  6.399  societies 
enrolled.  The  United  Kingdom  has  over  3,000;  Australia,  over  2,000;  France, 
66;  West  Indies,  63;  India,  128;  Mexico,  62 ;  Turkey,  41;  Africa,  38 ;  China, 
40;  Germany,  18;  Japan,  66;  Madagascar,  93;  and  so  on  until  every  country 
in  the  world  is  represented,  save  three  or  four,  making  a  grand  total  of  46,125 
branches. 

The  badge  banner,  which  is  given  for  the  greatest  absolute  gaiti  in  num- 
ber of  Young  People's  Societies,  can  again  be  carried  back  to  England's  shores. 
Pennsylvania  and  other  States  have  made  a  splendid  effort  to  keep  it  on  this 
side  of  the  "pond;  "  but  it  is  evident  that  our  brothers  and  sisters  on  the  other 
side  have  a  firm  grasp  upon  it. 

The  banner  for  i\\&  greatest  proportionate  gain  in  number  of  societies  for  the 
first  time  crosses  the  "  briny  deep"  to  Scotland's  shores.  What  will  another 
year  bring  forth.?     Shall  both  banners  float  on  the  Queen's  domains.? 

But  time  is  passing,  and  we  must  cease  our  counting  branches,  twigs,  and 
leaves,  and  get  to  gathering  the  fruit  from  this  mighty  paradox  of  God's  plant- 
ing, this  tree  with  mushroom  rapidity  of  growth  and  the  sturdiness  and  solidity 
of  the  oak. 

The  fruits,  what  are  some  of  them  ?  Systematic  Bible  study;  circulation  of 
good  literature;  denominational  loyalty  intensified  ;  pastors  encouraged;  Sun- 
day schools  enlarged ;  church  services  attended  ;  pastorless  churches  assisted  ; 
mid-week  prayer  meetings  sustained;  cottage  prayer  meetings  inaugurated; 
evangelistic  services  in  asylums,  almshouses,  prisons,  reformatories,  in  factories, 
in  street-car  stations,  at  homes  for  the  aged,  the  feeble-minded,  soldiers'  homes, 
and  other  public  institutions;  open-air  gospel  meetings  at  wharves  and  coal- 
docks,  in  parks,  and  at  street-corners;  gospel  wagons  employed:  public  drinking- 
fountains  erected;  poor  children  and  mothers  given  free  river,  ocean,  and  car 
rides;  new  churches  built ;  old  ones  repaired ;  city  missions  revived  ;  young  men 
preparing  for  the  ministry;  Endeavor  volunteers  for  home  and  foreign  mission- 


Fifteenth  Liteiiiational  Conventioji.  87 

ary  fields ;  more  money  than  ever  before  given  to  the  cause  of  home  and  foreign 
missions. 

And  that  leads  me  to  make  mention  of  the  missionary  roll  of  honor  which 
will  be  unrolled  in  our  meetings  on  Friday.  Upon  it  are  the  names  of  over 
5,869  Young  People's  Societies  and  2,331  Junior  Societies  from  thirty-five  States, 
seven  Territories,  seven  Provinces,  tour  foreign  lands.  These  societies  have 
given  $154,022.68  through  their  own  denominational  boards  to  the  cause  of 
home  and  foreign  missions.  In  addition  to  this  amount  which  has  been  given 
by  these  8.200  societies  that  we  have  enrolled  upon  the  roll  of  honor,  we  find 
that  $206,150.21  has  been'given  by  these  same  societies  for  Christ  and  the 
Church  in  other  ways,  making  a  total  of  $360,172.89,  the  largest  amounts  given 
by  any  one  society  being  $1,107.01,  by  the  Clarendon  Street  Baptist  Society,  of 
Boston,  and  a  little  over  $1,000.00,  by  the  Calvary  Presbyterian  Society,  of 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Let  me  make  it  plain  that  the  $154,022.68  given  direct  to  mission  boards  by 
the  eight  thousand  societies,  and  their  gifts  of  $206,150.21  for  other  benevolences, 
represent  only  the  record  of  the  societies  that  have  asked  to  be  enrolled  upon 
the  "  missionary  roll  of  honor." 

But  there  is  other  good  fruit,  such  as  open  hostility  to  Sunday  baseball-play- 
ing and  Sunday  excursions,  whether  by  bicycle,  train,  or  boat,  and  every  viola- 
tion of  the  Sabbath  Day;  race-track  gambling  and  lotteries  antagonized; 
well-planned  Christian-citizenship  battles  fought  at  the  primaries ;  aggressive 
and  organized  voters'  warfare  against  the  saloon;  increase  of  hatred  for  the 
entire  liquor  traffic  and  its  power  in  the  party  politics  of  all  nations.  Aye,  a 
more  intelligent  spirit  of  patriotism  has  been  promoted  everywhere.  Christian 
Endeavor  believes  Bishop  Berkeley  knew  what  was  needed  when  he  said,  years 
ago,  "  To  be  a  good  patriot,  a  man  must  consider  his  countrymen  as  God's 
creatures,  and  himself  as  accountable  for  his  acting  towards  them." 

Then  another  fruit,  and  a  blessed  one,  has  been  the  growth  of  our  interde- 
nominational fellowship.  To  have  once  tasted  it  is  to  turn  it  like  a  sweet 
m.orsel  on  the  tongue.  We  want  nothing  to  blight  it.  God  has  continued  to 
smile  upon  it,  and  each  year  it  is  expressing  itself  in  new  leaf  and  blossom  and 
bud,  as  convention  after  convention,  local,  district,  state,  provincial,  national, 
and  international,  gathers,  increases  in  numbers  and  spiritual  power.  Breth- 
ren, "  forsake  not  the  assembling  of  yourselves  together." 

Let  us  examine  the  interdenominational  fruitage  a  little  more  definitely. 

In  the  United  States  the  denominational  representation  is  as  follows:  The 
Presbyterians  still  lead,  with  5,458  Young  People's  Societies  and  2,599  Junior 
Societies  ;  the  Congregationalists  have  4, 109  Young  People's  Societies  and  2,077 
Junior  Societies;  the  Disciples  of  Christ  and  Christians,  2,941  Young  People's 
Societies  and  1,087  Junior  Societies;  the  Baptists,  2,679  Young  People's  Socie- 
ties and  927  Junior  Societies;  Methodist  Protestants,  975  Young  People's  Soci- 
eties and  302  Junior  Societies;  Lutherans,  S54  Young  People's  Societies  and 
268  Junior  Societies ;  Cumberland  Presbyterians.  805  Young  People's  Societies 
and  289  Junior  Societies,  and  so  on  through  a  long  list. 

In  the  Dominion  of  Canada  the  Methodists  of  Canada  lead,  with  1,041  Young 
People's  Societies  and  150  Junior  Societies  (most  of  the  societies  known  as 
Epworth  Leagues  of  Christian  Endeavor) ;  Canadian  Presbyterians  are  next, 
with  1,026  Young  People's  Societies  and  134  Junior  Societies;  Baptists  next, 
with  173  Young  People's  Societies  and  34  Junior  Societies;  Congregationalists 
next,  with  103  Young  People's  Societies  and  40  Junior  Societies,  etc. 

In  the  United  Kingdom  the  Baptists  lead,  with  over  900;  Congregationalists 
next,  w'th  nearly  as  many;  then  the  Methodists,  with  over  700,  and  the  Presby- 
terians, Episcopalians,  Aloravians,  and  Friends,  in  order  named. 

In  Australia  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  lead,  and  Congregationalists,  Baptists, 
and  Presbyterians  follow. 

Let  me  refer,  in  closing,  to  a  prophecy  made  just  ten  years  ago,  by  Dr.  J.  E. 
Twitchell,  of  New  Haven,  Conn:  — 

"  I  am  no  prophet,  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet,  but  I  venture  that  the  50,000 
now   composing  the   Christian   Endeavor  Society   in  five  years  will  become 


88  Official  Report  of  the 

500,000;  and  I  would  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  in  ten  years  it  should  roll  up  a 
round mit/ion.  It  is  Christian,  on  the  right  basis,  and  breathes  the  true,  pro- 
phetic life.  God  has  a  place  for  it,  and  a  work  for  it,  and  help  for  it,  I  am  sure. 
How  patriarchal  our  brother.  Dr.  Clark,  the  founder,  will  feel,  ten  years  hence, 
if  he  shall  become  the  foster-father  of  a  million!"  Well,  Dr.  Tvvitchell,  the 
ten  years  have  passed,  and  the  "round  million"  has  been  rolled  up,  and  more, 
for  there  is  to-day,  in  the  46,125  societies  throughout  the  world,  a  total  member- 
ship of  2,750,000.  And  the  best  of  it  all  is  that  from  our  Juniors  21,500,  and 
from  our  Young  People's  Societies  210,400  have  this  year  joined  the  churches  of 
America.  Praise  God  for  that !  In  all,  231, goo  have  frojn  C/iristiati  Endeavor 
takeji  their  place  in  the  Church  of  the  living  God.  What  a  blessed  harvest  for 
071  e  year  ! 

Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems,  that  sainted  friend  of  our  cause,  said  at  the  Saratoga 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  18S7,  that  "things  that  grow  have  more  in- 
trinsic value  than  things  that  are  made..  Growth  is  natural;  manufacture  is  ar- 
tificial. What  is  manufactured  is  every  moment  going  to  decay.  Whatever 
grows  has  in  itself  the  seed  of  its  own  propagation.  The  first  acorn  God  made 
is  growing  now,  mightily  multiplied,  and  spread  through  millions  of  its  descend- 
ant oaks." 

Christian  Endeavor  at  that  time  was  but  six  years  old,  and  Dr.  Deems  thus 
early  proved  by  natural  reasons  that  Christian  Endeavor  germination  would 
continue  year  after  year. 

It  is  because  there  has  been  a  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  that  this  mus- 
tard-seed has  waxed  a  great  tree.  More  and  more  are  its  fertilizing  evangelis- 
tic influences  giving  birth  to  new  converts,  new  workers,  new  soul-savers,  under 
God's  guidance. 

Yes,  the  Christian  Endeavor  tree  grows.  Its  tap-root,  the  active  members' 
pledge,  which  reaches  down  into  the  soil  made  rich  by  God's  Word,  is  sending 
up,  growing  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  heavens  above,  its  mighty,  sturdy  trunk, 
"  P'or  Christ  and  the  Church."  And  coming  from  all  denominations,  all  tribes, 
and  all  nations,  for  the  fifteenth  time  we  gather  under  its  spreading  branches, 
crowned  with  a  blessed  fruitage,  and  with  united  heart  and  voice  praise  God 
that  "  it  is  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in 
his  season." 

After  Mr.  Baer  had  finished,  Dr.  Hoyt  arose  and  said  :  — 

Let  us  express  our  thanks  for  the  growth  of  Christian  Endeavor  as  delineated 
in  this  report,  especially  for  the  winning  of  so  many  thousands  to  Jesus  Christ 
through  the  Christian  Endeavor.  When  I  count  three  and  when  I  say  three, 
let  us  all  say  together  loudly  and  distinctly,  "  We  thank  thee,  O  Lord." 

The  Convention  here  arose  and  said,  "We  thank  thee,  O  Lord." 

Dr.  Hoyt  :  Some  of  the  things  that  would  have  been  done  in  Tent  Willis- 
ton  must  be  done  in  Tent  Washington  because  of  the  wind.  We  are  nearly  . 
through,  but  one  of  the  things  is  the  presentation  of  another  banner, —  the 
badge  banner  for  the  greatest  absolute  increase  in  number  of  societies  during 
the  last  twelve  months.  England  had  it  last  year  and  is  to  keep  it  this  year. 
The  gentleman  who  is  to  receive  it  is  the  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  the 
chairman  of  the  British  Council  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan. 

My  Brothers  and  Sisters  in  Christian  Endeavor : —  I  never  felt  the  gracious 
blessed  brotherhood  of  this  movement  as  I  do  at  the  present  moment. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  herring-pond,  about  two  years  back,  there  was  a 
classic  song  much  sung  by  the  boys  in  the  London  streets,  and  more  or  less  in 
our  provincial  cities  and  towns.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  have  had  that  song 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  It  may  be  indeed  that  we  got  it  from  you. 
America  has  sent  us  many  good  things,  and  the  best  thing  she  ever  sent  us  was 
Christian  Endeavor.     The  sublime  refrain  of  that  song  is :  "  He  don't  know 


Fifteenth  Inteniatiojuil  Conve?ition.  89 

where  he  are."  There  have  been  odd  moments  this  morning  when  I  have  been 
fancying  myself  back  in  England.  As  I  look  into  your  faces,  as  I  listen  to 
your  song,  as  I  heard  the  eloquent  addresses  which  have  been  presented  from 
this  platform,  I  could  fancy  myself  in  England.  We  have  the  same  tongue, 
that  you  have.  We  have  the  same  faith  in  God.  We  have  the  same  loyalty  to 
Christian  Endeavor.  As  I  stand  here,  on  many  accounts  I  have  been  fancy- 
ing myself  in  England  this  morning,  especially  as  I  heard  the  rain  pelting  and 
pattering  down  upon  the  roof.  There  is  a  story  of  an  American  who  once  went 
to  Glasgow,  and  he  had  there  three  days  of  Scotch  mist.  On  the  third  day  he 
could  not  stop  in  the  hotel  any  longer,  so  he  went  out  to  a  bootblack,  and 
while  he  was  having  his  shoes  cleaned  he  said  to  the  boy,  "  Does  it  always  rain 
here,  my  boy?"     The  boy  said,  "  Naw,  it  sometimes  snaws." 

I  hope  my  friends  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  other  States,  who  have  been 
striving  so  earnestly  for  this  banner  during  the  year,  will  forgive  me  this  morn- 
ing for  taking  it  back  again  to  England  ;  but  in  the  Old  Country,  —  that  little 
country  which  you  could  just  take  up  and  drop  into  Lake  Superior  and  lose  it, 
—  in  that  Old  Country  we  have  advanced  a  thousand  societies  during  the  year, 
and  we  have  added  forty  thousand  members  to  the  roll  of  Christian  Endeavor- 
ers.  I  wish  that  we  could  all  have  the  badge  banner.  As  only  one  country  or 
State  can  have  it,  I  am  glad  we  have  got  it  for  England.  It  was  an  American 
who  wrote  these  words :  — 

"  Hugged  in  the  clinging  billow's  clasp 

From  seaweed  fringe  to  mountain  heather, 
The  British  oak  with  rooted  grasp 

Her  slender  handful  holds  together. 
With  cliffs  of  white,  and  bovvers  of  green, 

And  ocean  narrowing  to  caress  her. 
And  hills  and  threaded  streams  between, 

Our  little  mother  isle  —  God  bless  her  !  " 

I  am  sure  that  American  Endeavorers  will  echo  those  words  of  one  of  the 
most  genial  men  who  ever  trod  God's  earth,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

Endeavorers,  we  need  this  banner  in  the  Old  Country  for  one  year  more.  I 
have  seen  it  unfurled  from  the  pulpit  where  Alexander  McLaren  preaches  in 
Manchester.  I  have  seen  it  hung  up  in  the  great  Metropolitan  Tabernacle  over 
the  platform  from  which  the  saintly  Spurgeon  preached  God  to  men.  It  has 
been  floating  aloft  in  our  great  national  assemblies.  We  have  got  inspiration 
and  encouragement  from  it.  There  are  kindly  hearts  in  England  to-day  toward 
American,  from  having  gazed  in  the  old  land  upon  that  badge  banner;  and  we 
feel  sure,  as  you  send  it  back  with  us  for  another  year,  that  you  will  send  it 
with  your  best  greetings  to  England,  and  with  your  prayers  that  God  will  bless 
our  land  in  the  coming  days. 

Dr.  Hoyt:  In  the  last  minute  the  very  best  thing  of  all  this  morning  is  com- 
ing. In  all  our  Christian  Endeavor  Conventions  there  never  has  been  quite 
such  a  chorus  as  we  have  in  Washington,  —  not  quite  so  large  or  so  well  trained, 
and  that  is  saying  a  great  deal.  We  are  going  to  have  a  chance  to  listen  to  the 
chorus  in  a  moment.  Let  nobody  leave,  out  of  respect  to  the  chorus,  and 
because  they  certainly  want  to  hear  its  splendid  music. 

Mr.  Foster:  I  should  like  to  announce  the  number  to  be  sung  by  the 
choir.  It  is  not  specially  an  anthem,  but  it  is  written  by  the  secretary  of  our 
'96  Committee,  and  is  on  page  forty-six  of  the  programme.  The  choir  will  sing 
two  stanzas,  and  then  we  will  ask  you  to  sing  the  third  one. 

The  Convention  thereupon  adjourned  after  the  benediction  by  Rev. 
Canon  Richardson,  of  Canada. 

Tent  Endeavor. 

If  the  wet  and  humid  weather  prevented  any  of  the  Christian 
Endeavorers  from  going  to  the  great  meetings  of  their  Convention,  the 
effect  was  not  visible  at  Tent  Endeavor.     As  soon  as  the  tent-flaps 


90  Official  Report  of  the 

were  raised,  shortly  after  eight  o'clock,  the  Endeavorers  began  to 
gather,  and  those  who  came  early  entertained  themselves  with  talking 
over  the  great  movement  in  which  they  were  all  so  deeply  interested, 
and  admiring  the  pretty  effect  of  the  decorations,  or  studying  the 
steady  stream  of  newcomers  pouring  into  the  inclosure.  The  seats 
were  damp,  and  the  clouds  that  piled  up  in  the  west  bore  promise  of 
more  rain.  The  streamers  that  stretched  from  the  side  flaps  of  the 
immense  tent  to  the  lofty  center  poles  had  lost  their  brightness  in  the 
persistent  bath  of  humidity  they  had  been  plunged  in  for  two  days,  and 
the  atmosphere  they  swung  in  was  heavy  and  hot. 

The  Convention  came  to  order  at  9.30  a.  m..  Rev.  Howard  B. 
Grose,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  presiding,  and  Mr.  E.  O.  Excell,  of  Chicago, 
acting  as  musical  director. 

Mr.  Grose:  We  well  knew  that  Washington  would  give  us  a  warm  wel- 
come, but  we  did  not  know  that  they  would  give  us  a  wet  one  as  well.  But  we 
already  know  one  thing:  that  even  though  the  heavens  seem  to  fall  down  upon 
us,  you  cannot  dampen  the  ardor  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 

The  devotional  exercises  were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jesse  B. 
Colbert,  of  Washington. 

Mr.  Grose:  The  first  thing  I  saw  when  I  came  into  Washington  was 
that  magnificent  monument  which  reminds  us  all  of  the  first  great  General  and 
President  of  our  Republic,  —  the  Washington  Monument.  And  as  I  have  gone 
about  the  city,  I  have  been  everywhere  reminded  by  the  statuary  of  the  fact 
that  here  we  are  in  the  presence  of  the  statues,  if  not  the  living  persons,  of  gen- 
erals. We  have  present  with  us  this  morning,  however,  one  general  we  might 
think  we  could  spare,  but  whose  presence  we  shall  have  to  endure,  and  that  is 
general  humidity.  It  does  not  matter  whether  we  stick  to  him  or  not,  he  will 
stick  to  us. 

I  have  now  the  honor  of  declaring  the  Fifteenth  International  Convention 
of  Christian  Endeavor  open.  The  District  of  Columbia,  in  which  we  meet,  is 
said  to  be  the  best-governed  portion  of  our  great  country,  and  I  suppose  that 
with  the  exception  of  that  State  from  which  we  come,  that  statement  may  be 
true. 

We  are  now  to  receive  a  welcome  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  first  from 
one  of  its  honored  commissioners,  the  Honorable  John  W.  Ross,  of  Washing- 
ton, who  will  now  speak  to  us. 

Address  of  Hon.  John  W.  Ross,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  have  witnessed  many  distinguished 
gatherings  within  the  past  decade.  They  saw  the  white-plumed  Knights  Tem- 
plar march  upon  the  historic  avenue  by  the  thousands  ;  the  grizzled  veterans  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  paraded  upon  the  line  of  march  followed  by 
the  survivors  of  Sherman's  army  in  1S65  ;  then  came  the  Knights  of  Pythias  in 
grand  encampment,  and  other  noted  organizations  which  have  deemed  it  a 
duty,  as  well  as  an  honor,  to  meet  once  at  least  in  the  city  which  bears  the  name 
of  Washington.  But  the  capital,  in  all  its  experience  as  a  convention  city, 
never  laefore  had  as  its  guests  thirty  thousand  young  and  enthusiastic  repre- 
sentatives of  such  a  cause  and  of  such  a  purpose  as  that  which  has  brought 
together  these  representative  American  citizens  to-day. 

I  esteem  it  a  great  honor  to  bid  you  welcome  in  the  name  and  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  It  is  an  especial  pleasure  to 
extend  a  greeting  to  those  of  you  who  have  come  from  other  national  jurisdic- 
tions. Your  presence  to-day  shows  that  the  boundary  lines  between  nations 
are  not  barriers  to  co-operation  among  those  who  profess  the  same  faith  and 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  91 

who  seek  to  attain  the  same  great  resuU.     You  are  not  deemed  strangers  in  a 
strange  land,  but  friends  and  brethren  in  a  common  cause. 

You  are  gladly  and  hospitably  received  because  the  work  in  which  you  are 
employed  has  the  sympathy  and  support  of  those  who  have  faith  in  the  prog- 
ress and  in  the  uplifting  of  the  human  race.  Your  teachings  and  your  work 
tend  to  cultivate  the  better  and  the  liner  elements  of  our  human  nature  ;  your 
purposes  and  methods  call  into  exercise  those  forces  of  the  soul  of  man  which 
find  their  fittest  expression  in  the  worship  of  the  Infinite,  whose  power  and 
majesty  are  beyond  our  ken. 

The  principles  which  you  profess  and  the  work  upon  which  you  strive  not 
only  tend  to  the  elevation  of  individual  aims  and  character,  but  they  are  in  the 
direction  of  good  citizenship,  and  they  are  for  good  government.  Every  muni- 
cipal ofiicer  welcomes  such  a  force  and  such  an  influence  in  the  community 
wherein  he  is  a  public  servant. 

There  is  another  standpoint  from  which  our  people  extend  to  you  a  heartfelt 
greeting.  You  are  assembled  in  the  only  city  in  all  the  land  to  which  all  of  you 
who  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  can  come  with  the  same  rights  and  priv- 
ileges. You  may  visit  the  capital  of  the  State  of  which  you  may  be  a 
citizen,  and  be  inspired  with  all  of  the  State  pride  in  its  greatness  and  dignity, 
which  is  natural  and  becoming  to  you  when  you  reflect  that  in  that  State  capital 
the  laws  are  made  and  enforced  which  protect  your  rights  of  person  and  prop- 
erty ;  but  you  would  not  expect  your  fellow  visitor  and  Endeavorer  from  another 
State  to  share  fully  in  all  of  your  local  State  pride.  You  meet  to-day,  not  only 
as  members  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  not  merely  as  inhabitants  of 
New  York,  and  Virginia,  and  Illinois,  and  Kansas,  but  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  gathered  together  in  your  own  capital  city.  You  are  not  merely  guests 
and  visitors  —  you  are  owners  and  proprietors,  whose  rights  no  man  may  gain- 
say. In  common  with  all  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  you  own  not  only 
these  national  public  buildings,  these  beautiful  parks  and  reservations,  but  also 
all  of  the  streets  and  avenues  as  laid  out  under  the  guidance  of  President  George 
Washington  in  the  original  city  which  bears  his  name. 

How  much  do  you  suppose  your  real-estate  holdings  in  this  District 
are  worth  in  gold  or  silver  dollars,  whichever  you  may  prefer.?  Of  course 
it  is  difficult  to  state  accurately  the  value  of  the  land  contained  in  the  streets 
and  avenues,  but  they  are  estimated  to  comprise  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  million  square  feet,  and  to  be  fairly  worth  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  millions  of  dollars.  Aside  from  the  streets  and  avenues,  the  United 
States  owns  in  the  District  buildings  and  grounds  carefully  estimated  to  be 
worth  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  In  other  words,  the  people  of  the 
United  States  own  property  here  which  is  worth  more  than  all  the  property 
owned  by  all  the  taxpayers  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Very  properly,  the 
real-estate  holdings  of  the  federal  government  are  not  subject  to  taxation  in  the 
manner  that  that  property  is  taxed  which  is  owned  by  the  people  of  the  District. 
In  1S78  Congress  assumed  entire  control  of  the  local  government  by  means  of 
municipal  agents  appointed  by  the  President  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate. 
This  was  done  in  compliance  with  the  clause  of  the  United  States  Constitution 
which  provides  that  the  Congress  shall  have  power  "to  exercise  exclusive  legis- 
lation in  all  cases  whatsoever  over  such  district  ...  as  may  .  .  .  become  the 
seat  of  government  of  the  United  States."  Since  that  date  no  money  belonging 
to  the  District,  or  raised  by  taxation  from  citizens  of  the  District,  can  be  used 
for  any  purpose  not  specifically  authorized  by  act  of  Congress. 

It  was  in  that  year  formally  enacted  as  a  part  of  the  organic  law  of  the  Dis- 
trict that  the  United  States  should  pay  one-half  of  the  annual  appropriations 
made  for  the  expenses  of  the  local  government,  and  the  District  revenues  the 
other  half.  This  was  deemed  just  and  equitable,  because  the  United  States 
owns  more  than  one-half  of  the  property,  and  is  not  taxed  upon  it,  and  because 
the  plan  of  the  city  was  so  vast  and  extensive,  with  many  streets  and  avenues 
one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  width,  that  no  local  revenues  could  possibly  im- 
prove and  care  for  them  as  befitted  the  capital  of  a  great   republic.     Besides, 


92  Official  Report  of  the 

the  people  of  the  United  States  are  the  direct  beneficiaries  of  the  annual  appro- 
priations made  for  the  support  of  the  District. 

Many  thousands  of  employees  of  the  federal  government  reside  here  tem- 
porarily. Our  public  schools  are  free  and  open  to  their  children,  and  to  all  who 
may  come  here  to  attend  them,  with  free  text-books  in  all  of  the  grades  below 
and  including  the  grammar  schools.  Our  police  force  guards  not  only  the 
homes  of  our  taxpayers,  but  also  the  property  of  senators  and  members,  and 
the  Capitol  and  White  House.  Our  fire  department  is  for  the  protection  of  all 
government  property.  The  money  expended  to  provide  good  sewerage  and  an 
adequate  water  supply  throws  safeguards  about  the  health  and  the  well-being 
of  your  public  servants  in  the  White  House,  at  the  Capitol,  and  in  the  great 
departments  of  the  government.  It  is  needless  to  attempt  to  prove  that  expen- 
ditures for  keeping  the  streets  and  alleys  clean  and  wholesome,  and  for  keeping 
our  seventy  thousand  shade-trees  in  proper  condition,  are  not  wholly  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  who  permanently  reside  here.  Whatever  tends  to  adorn 
and  beautify,  and  fit  to  be  a  healthful  residence,  the  capital  city  of  the  United 
States  ought  to  appeal  to  the  sense  of  justice  and  to  the  patriotic  pride  of  the 
representative  of  every  congressional  district  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the 
city  lately  referred  to  on  the  fioor  of  the  Senate  by  an  eloquent  senator  from 
Missouri  as  "the  eternal  city  of  an  eternal  republic."  They  who  are  now  asso- 
ciated with  its  fortunes  and  its  management  will  soon  pass  away  and  be  for- 
gotten ;  but  the  Republic  will  survive  forever,  and  its  "  eternal  capital  "  should 
reflect  its  perennial  lustre. 

I  have  ventured  to  bring  the  cause  of  the  District  of  Columbia  into  this 
presence  and  before  this  representative  body  of  American  citizens  because  we 
are  without  direct  representation  on  the  floors  of  Congress.  Our  representa- 
tives ought  to  be  and  are  the  senators  and  representatives  who  are  accredited 
by  you  and  by  your  fellow  citizens  from  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  We  believe 
that  you  will  agree  with  us  that,  although  we  are  voiceless  in  the  halls  of  Con- 
gress, the  end  we  seek  to  attain,  namely,  a  model  municipality  in  every  phase 
of  growth  and  development  at  the  capital,  is  your  cause  as  well  as  ours.  When 
Washington  founded  this  city,  on  the  shore  of  the  great  river  which  winds  its 
way  to  the  sea  by  the  sacred  spot  where  his  maturer  years  were  passed  and 
where  his  ashes  now  repose,  it  was  his  hope  and  his  belief  that  the  city  so 
founded  would  surpass  all  other  national  capitals  in  beauty  and  in  grandeur. 

Surely  no  representative  of  this  great  people  can  win  lasting  popular  renown 
by  seeking  to  hinder  or  to  mar  that  manifest  destiny  of  his  own  national 
capital. 

I  will  not  delay  your  important  deliberations  by  more  extended  remarks.. 
We  are  all  Endeavorers  here  this  week.  We  will  endeavor  to  show  by  our 
kindly  acts  and  by  courteous  attention,  rather  than  by  our  words,  how  cordial 
and  sincere  our  greeting  is  intended  to  be.  When  the  work  of  your  Convention 
shall  have  ended,  and  you  shall  have  journeyed  to  your  homes,  may  you  have 
with  you  in  perpetual  memory  only  fragrant  and  agreeable  recollections  of  your 
great  Convention  of  '96,  and  of  the  hospitality  of  the  people  of  Washington. 

Rev.  S.  H.  Greene,  D.D.,  pastor  of  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  was 
next  introduced  to  speak  a  word  of  welcome  for  the  city  pastors. 

Address  of  Rev.  S.  H.  Greene,  D.D.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow  Endeavorers:  —  I  have  been  honored  with  the 
privilege  of  extending  the  Christian  salutations  and  cordial  greetings  of  the 
pastors  of  this  city  to  you,  now  assembled  in  your  Fifteenth  International 
Convention.  We  rejoice  in  your  coming ;  we  bid  you  a  glad  and  hearty  wel- 
come. 

We  welcome  you  to  our  broad  avenues,  beautiful  streets,  hospitable  homes, 
historic  buildings,  venerable  institutions  of  learning,  and  localities  fragrant  with 
the  memory  of  the  nation's  great  men,  from  "  the  Father  of  His  Country  "  to  the 
present  time. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  93 

We  welcome  you  to  our  churches,  which  are  neither  few  nor  insignificant ;  to 
the  centres  of  thought  and  labor,  where  Christian  men  and  women  have  toiled 
these  many  years  with  no  small  success  ;  to  an  atmosphere  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship and  love  seldom  surpassed  ;  to  a  great  and  important  field  still  "  white  for 
the  harvest. " 

We  welcome  you  to  the  privilege,  with  God's  help,  of  contributing  to  the 
spiritual  forces  at  the  nation's  capital,  till  from  yonder  Executive  Mansion,  halls 
of  Congress,  to  the  smallest  department  of  the  government's  work,  there  shall  be 
recognized  and  honored  that  "  righteousness  "  which  exalts  a  nation,  and  is  in 
itself  the  assurance  of  divine  watch,  care,  and  love. 

We  welcome  you  in  the  glad  remembrance  that  we  are  one  in  Christ  Jesus  ; 
that  here  no  undue  emphasis  will  be  laid  on  latitude,  language,  sect,  or  condi- 
tion of  any  who  bow  at  the  feet  of  the  Crucified,  worshipping  Him  who  "hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Brothers  of  the  continents  beyond,  and  of  the  isles  of  the  sea,  1  salute  you  ! 
Welcome,  thrice  welcome  to  these  western  shores,  this  beautiful  capital,  these 
inspiring  services,  our  hearts  and  homes. 

This  welcome  is  uttered  in  the  remembrance  that  you  are  individually  the 
active,  loyal  representatives  of  the. younger  portion  of  the  Christian  churches, — 
not  a  disaffected,  disintegrating  element,  but  living,  loving  members  of  that 
Church  for  which  our  Lord  gave  himself.  The  record  of  your  fidelity  and  suc- 
cess is  written  in  the  marvelous  history  of  the  recent  past.  God  breathed  upon 
the  churches,  and  lo  !  a  mighty  inspiration  came,  and  an  element  hitherto  largely 
overlooked  in  active  work  was  wheeled  into  line  and  led  forth  to  magnificent 
service.  Enthusiasm,  thoughtfulness,  efiiciency,  marked  its  movement^ till,  like 
the  perfume  of  flowers,  it  drifted  beyond  the  garden  walls  and  sweetened  all 
Christian  work. 

It  aimed  to  assist  in  saving  the  lost  and  developing  the  saved,  and  the  en- 
deavor has  been  signally  blessed.  Without  the  betrayal  of  denominational 
loyalty  it  has  cultivated  that  spirit  of  fraternity  among  the  churches  which 
becomes  the  Gospel,  and  makes  co-operation  possible  in  advancing  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  among  men.  A  most  happy  illustration  of  this  is  seen  in  the  history 
of  the  movement  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Its  beautiful  impress  is  to-day 
upon  the  young  men  and  women  who  are  the  hope  of  the  churches.  No  pastor 
can  be  more  indebted  for  its  sweet,  inspiring  helpfulness  than  myself. 

We  welcome  you  in  the  expectation  that  from  this  fraternal  gathering, 
this  communion  of  spirit,  this  interchange  of  experience,  this  search  for  truth, 
this  union  of  prayer,  there  may  come  to  us  all  a  larger  revelation  to  God,  a 
clearer  conception  of  his  will  concerning  us,  a  higher  consecration  to  his 
service. 

May  there  come  to  us  here  such  a  broadening  of  the  intellectual  horizon, 
such  a  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life,  such  a  strengthening  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship, as  befits  the  disciples  of  our  risen  Lord.  The  week  before  us  is  great  with 
spiritual  possibilities,  world-wide  blessings.  I  pray  you,  let  neither  the  attrac- 
tions of  this  fair  city  nor  the  pleasures  of  social  intercourse  shut  from  your 
minds  for  one  hour  the  great  purpose  for  which  we  are  gathered. 

We  welcome  you,  therefore,  with  the  sincere  prayer  that  this  Convention  at 
the  national  capital  may  be  a  Pentecostal  scene  ;  that  here  you  may  be  "  endued 
with  power  from  on  high  ;  "  that  you  may  return  to  your  homes  and  churches  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  here  you  have  been  face  to  face  with  the  Master  him- 
self, until  you  comprehended  his  purpose,  drank  in  his  spirit,  shared  in  his  power. 
Then  across  this  great  continent  to  those  beyond,  and  to  the  isles  of  the  sea, 
there  will  come  a  blessing  immeasurable  in  the  strengthening  of  God's  people 
and  the  salvation  of  the  lost.  Then  amid  the  labor,  sacrifice,  and  hope  there 
will  come  a  broader  emphasis  on  that  petition  taught  by  our  Lord,  "Thy  king- 
dom come,"  and  we  shall  rejoice  in  the  signs  of  his  approach,  "  whom  having 
not  seen  we  love." 

Mr.  Grose:  Now  that  you  have  seen  and  heard  Dr.  Greene,  I  can  say  that 
he  is  one  of  the  most  honored  and  successful  pastors  of  this  capital   city ;  and 


94  Official  Report  of  the 

not  only  that,  but  through  the  years  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  loyal  friends 
and  truest  workers  in  behalf  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Now  there  will  be  a  response,  on  behalf  of  the  United  Society,  from  one  of 
its  trustees,  Professor  W.  W.  Andrews,  who  comes  to  us  from  Sackville, 
N.  B.  He  comes  to  us  from  across  the  border,  but  I  don't  know  of  any 
more  loyal-hearted  American,  hence  loyal-hearted  Christian  Endeavorer,  than 
Professor  Andrews. 

Address  of  Prof.  W.  W.  Andrews,  Sackville,  N.  B. 

I  think  myself  happy,  most  worthy  Chairman,  that  I  am  permitted  this  day 
to  answer  to  these  cordial  addresses  of  welcome  on  behalf  of  our  assembled 
millions  from  almost  every  clime  under  heaven.  I  am  delighted  to-day,  seeing 
that  I  am  a  British-Canadian-American,  to  answer  addresses  of  welcome  from 
two  great  citizens  of  these  United  States,  the  heaven  and  the  haven  of  the 
oppressed  the  world  over. 

I  am  delighted  that  a  welcome  has  come  to  it  from  the  District  of  Columbia, 
to  me  the  most  sacred  place  in  the  whole  United  States. 

The  sacred  memories  of  your  nation  gather  round  Plymouth  Rock.  The 
foot  of  Providence  struck  Plymouth  Rock  three  hundred  years  ago,  but  the 
feet  of  Providence, —  in  this  place  where  the  voice  of  the  people  becomes  articu- 
late in  the  laws  and  statutes  according  to  which  your  law-abiding  millions  shall 
walk, —  the  feet  of  Providence  walk  to-day  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  And 
as  I  have  walked  around  this  city  and  gazed  upon  the  White  House,  the  Capitol, 
and  the  other  public  buildings,  I  have  been  disappointed  in  them,  as  I  was  dis- 
appointed in  looking  upon  our  Canadian-American  Niagara  for  the  first  time. 

But  there  is  one  thing  in  which  I  was  not  disappointed,  whose  presence  haunts 
me  even  through  the  hours  of  the  night,  and  that  is  that  plain,  simple,  mag- 
nificent shaft  pointing  heavenward,  whose  presence  overshadows  us,  to  me 
the  symbol  of  what  Christian  Endeavor  is, —  not  a  great  organization,  but  a 
simple  cause,  a  great  movement,  pointing  heavenward. 

I  am  happy  to  reply  to  the  addresses  of  welcome  in  behalf  of  what  we  are 
now  being  accustomed  to  look  upon  as  the  most  advanced  group  in  economic 
organization,  the  most  advanced  group  of  Anglo-Saxon  people  on  the  face  of 
the  earth, —  the  people  of  Australia.  I  reply  to-day  on  behalf  of  the  teeming 
millions  of  India,  where  the  multiplex  populations  are  gradually  being  educated 
so  that  they  may  be  ready  for  future  self-government.  I  reply  to-day  for  the 
great  Dominion  of  Canada,  whose  length  from  Queen  Charlotte  Island  to  the 
eastern  coast  of  Cape  Breton  is  over  1,200  miles  Tonger  than  the  distance  from 
San  Francisco  to  New  York. —  a  dominion  great  enough  to  take  in  the  whole 
present  population  of  the  United  States  and  plant  them  all  upon  land  in  which 
the  flowers  bloom  early  in  May. 

We  are  working  out  our  own  destinies.  I  reply  to-day  on  behalf  of  this  great 
group  of  confederated  republics,  the  colonies  of  the  British  Empire;  for  let 
me  disabuse  your  minds  of  one  misconception  which  I  find  everywhere.  I  am 
not  ruled  by  the  Queen  of  England.  I  love  her;  I  sing  "  God  Save  the  Queen  ;  " 
but  the  Queen  of~  England  has  not  power  to  say  to  me,  "Walk  six  feet,  and 
walk  back  again."  She  can  only  say  that  to  the  servants  in  her  own  house. 
Only  the  people  of  Canada  rule  me  ! 

And  now  the  Anglo-Saxon  people,  wherever  they  are  found,  are  marked  by 
these  great  characteristics.  We  say  we  carry  ourselves  in  such  a  way  that  all 
other  nations  think  we  want  the  earth,  and  Anglo-Saxon  people,  whether  under 
the  Union  Jack  or  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  all  have  a  marvelous  faculty  of  think- 
ing that  they  are  right  and  everybody  else  is  wrong.  Anglo-Saxon  people  are 
marked  by  this  characteristic  :  that  we  hold  so  tenaciously  to  our  own  language 
and  to  our  own  customs  that  we  are  the  only  group  of  people  in  the  world  that 
can  not  be  colonized  by  other  nationalities.  And  therefore,  seeing  we  have 
these  characteristics,  it  means  much  for  the  future  of  the  world  whether  our 
hearts  are  one  for  Christ  or  not,  and  whether  Christianity  becomes  supreme  in 
our  midst. 


FiftcentJi  International  Convention.  95 

But  as  things  stand  to-day,  it  is  this  :  wherever  Anglo-Saxon  government  and 
civilization  go,  there  good  government  goes  ;  there  property  becomes  safe; 
there  justice  becomes  a  fact;  there  pohtical  freedom  becomes  a  great  reaUty, 
whether  it  be  in  Egypt  or  Hawaii;  whether  it  be  in  South  Africa  or  Alaska; 
whether  it  be  in  Venezuela  or  Cuba. 

Christ  said  to  his  Church,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature."  Through  the  centuries  he  has  been  saying  to  his  people, 
"March!  March!"  Now,  in  these  latter  days,  he  is  saying  to  his  people, 
through  Christian  Endeavor,  "Quick  march!  Go!  Go  quickly,  and  evangelize 
the  world  for  Jesus  Christ !"  It  used  to  be  said  that  the  blood  of  all  the  mar- 
tyrs was  the  seed  of  the  Church.  Now  it  is  the  consecration  of  the  blood  of 
young  hearts  that  is  the  hope  of  the  Church. 

And  may  God  grant  that  abroad  through  the  land  this  Society,  this  move- 
ment, teaching  its  millions  of  members  to  serve  Christ  faithfully,  and  to  do 
whatever  he  would  have  them  do,  may  spread  and  become  triumphant  every- 
where ! 

Secretary  Baer  was  then  introduced  to  read  his  report,  as  he  was 
expected  to  read  it  in  Tent  Washington  ;  when  half  way  through  it, 
Treasurer  Shaw  was  introduced  and  finished  reading  the  report. 

Then  Mr.  Ira  D.  Sankey  was  invited  to  sing,  and  he  did  so  to  the 
manifest  enjoyment  of  the  vast  audience. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell,  the  first  signer  of  the  first  Christian  Endeavor 
pledge,  was  also  introduced  and  heartily  greeted.  The  presentation  of 
the  Junior  badge  banner  to  the  State  union  having  made  the  greatest 
absolute  gain  in  number  of  societies  was  the  next  upon  the  pro- 
gramme. 

Mr.  Grose:  Look  upon  this  Junior  banner.  Professor  Andrews  told 
you  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  want  the  earth.  They  seem  to  be  getting  good 
deal  of  it.  The  Pennsylvanians  want  this  Junior  banner.  They  ought  to  have 
been  satisfied  with  holding  it  twice,  and  some  other  State  ought  to  be  immensely 
dissatisfied  that  it  has  not  taken  it  away  this  year. 

Dr.  McCrory,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  will  now  receive  this  banner  for  his 
State  for  the  third  time,  has  had  to  make  so  many  acceptation  speeches  that  if 
he  were  any  other  man,  I  do  not  know  how  he  could  have  anything  fresh  to  say. 
But  he  is  always  fresh. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  J.  T.  McCrory,  D.D. 

I  simply  have  to  say  that  this  is  getting  monotonous.  I  do  not  mean  the 
rain;  I  mean  this  taking  the  Junior  banner  back.  I  want  to  say  to  New 
York,  and  Illinois,  and  Great  Britain,  and  all  Europe  that  we  would  like  to  have 
them  take  this  banner.  It  is  too  much  like  a  family  Christmas  all  to  one's  self, 
where  there  is  only  one  man  in  the  family.  It  seems  to  me  we  might  have 
something  a  good  deal  more  interesting.  Why,  it  would  be  more  interesting 
than  this  if  a  husband  would  some  day,  after  his  wife  had  given  him  a  first- 
class  meal,  just  hand  her  over  a  pocket-book  and  say  to  her,  "  Wife,  you  go 
down-town  and  get  just  the  most  beautiful  diamond  ring  you  can  find,  just  such 
a  ring  as  you  think  I  would  like  to  give  to  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the 
world."  Why,  it  would  be  more  interesting  on  Christmas  morning,  a  great  deal 
more  interesting,  if  the  wife  had  gone  and  bought  that  ring  and  had  handed  it 
over  to  her  husband,  and  on  Christmas  morning  he  should  hand  it  over  to  some 
other  man's  wife.  It  would  be  a  great  deal  more  interesting.  So  next  year  we 
want  to  hand  this  over  to  some  other  man's  wife.  But  we  do  not  propose  to 
quit  organizing  Christian  Endeavor  Junior  Societies. 

Let  me  say  just  one  thing  in  favor  of  the  Juniors.  I  was  at  a  State  conven- 
tion not  very  long  ago,  and  the  Junior  rally  was  held,  and  when  they  were  about 
through  I  was  talking  to  them,  and  I  said,  "  How  many  of  this  Convention  can 


96  Official  Report  of  the 

repeat  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge?  Stand  up  and  repeat  it."  And  the 
older  Endeavorers  remained  silent,  but  the  Juniors  stood  up  in  a  body,  and 
every  one  of  them  repeated  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge. 

Thank  the  Lord  for  the  Juniors,  and  especially  that  they  learn  the 
pledge.  Learn  the  pledge,  and  work  for  Junior  Endeavorers,  and  come  next 
year  with  more  Junior  Societies  organized  than  Pennsylvania  has,  and  we  will 
be  glad  to  give  you  this  banner. 

Mr.  Grose:  And  here  is  the  second  of  the  Junior  banners.  This  one  is 
given  for  the  greatest  proportionate  increase  of  Junior  Societies.  It  was  held 
last  year  by  Assiniboia,  as  you  have  already  heard.  It  goes  this  next  year  to 
Mexico.  It  goes  from  the  far  North  into  the  South,  and  still  across  one  of 
those  imaginary  lines  that  may  form  a  political  division,  but  in  Christian 
Endeavor  forms  no  division  at  all  of  heart  and  service. 

Is  Mr.  Peter  Grant  present  to  receive  this  banner  on  behalf  of  Mexico  ?  Mr. 
Grant  does  not  seem  to  be  present ;  therefore  we  will  have  no  response  this 
morning  on  behalf  of  Mexico;  but  we  will  see  to  it  that  Mexico  gets  the 
banner  that  her  Christian  Endeavorers  have  so  nobly  won. 

Fifteen  years  ago  there  was  a  minister  of  God  away  up  in  Portland,  Me., 
who  sought  for  the  right  kind  of  a  young  people's  society  until  he  found  it; 
and  to-day  the  world  honors  him  as  the  founder  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

Dr.  Clark  will  now  present  to  you  his  annual  address.  Now  of  course  you 
all  want  to  hear  Dr.  Clark,  and  he  wants  you  to  hear ;  but  you  will  bear  in 
mind  that  already,  in  another  of  the  great  tents,  he  has  delivered  this  address. 
It  is  almost  more  of  a  strain  than  any  human  voice  can  bear  to  repeat  such  an 
address,  and  if  you  find  at  any  point  that  his  voice  begins  to  fail  him  a  little, 
and  he  needs  a  bit  of  rest,  give  him  a  chance  to  take  a  sip  of  water,  and  you 
just  applaud  until  he  has  the  chance. 

Dr.  Clark  then  read  his  report,  which  has  already  been  printed. 
After  singing  "  Loyal  Soldiers,"  the  meeting  adjourned  with  the  Mizpah 
benediction. 


THURSDAY    AFTERNOON. 


DENOMINATIONAL     RALLIES. 

For  the  Church. 

If  the  Convention  as  a  whole  abounded  in  illustrations  of  the  inter- 
denominational fellowship  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  oversowing 
denominational  rallies  on  .Thursday  afternoon  gave  a  striking  object- 
lesson  on  the  twin  principle  of  denominational  loyalty.  The  Presby- 
terians took  possession  of  Tent  Endeavor.'  The  action  of  the  last 
General  Assembly  was  the  leading  topic,  and  after  the  report  of  the 
committee  appointed  last  year  to  confer  with  the  Assembly's  committee, 
the  following  resolution  was  passed  :  — 

The  delegates  to  the  Fifteenth  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention, 
assembled  at  our  Presbyterian  rally,  representing  the  5,458  Young  People's 
Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  the  2,599  Junior  Socieiies  of  our  church, 
would  recognize  gratefully  the  action  of  our  General  Assembly  at  Saratoga  with 
reference  to  Young  People's  Societies.  We  heartily  and  thoroughly  indorse  the 
statement  therein  made  as  to  the  relation  of  our  societies  to  the  Church,  and  of 
the  duties  and  objects  of  these  organizations. 


MEN'S  Meeting  in  Tent  Washington. 


Interior  of  a  Tent  at  the  opening  Session. 


Fifteenth  International  Coivention.  9T' 

An  elaborate  programme  had  been  prepared  for  the  Baptists,  who 
filled  Tent  Washington.  Strictly  limiting  the  time  of  the  speakers 
made  it  possible  to  hear  from  a  large  number  of  leading  pastors,  who 
treated  brightly  and  forcibly  different  phases  of  the  Society's  fitness  to 
meet  the  Church's  present  special  needs. 

The  Congregationalists,  too,  followed  the  plan  of  having  many  very 
brief  addresses,  in  which  the  history  and  principles  of  the  denomination 
were  reviewed  in  their  bearing  on  the  solution  of  religious,  political,  and 
social  problems.  

The  Disciples  had  a  large  and  enthusiastic  gathering,  at  which, 
besides  other  addresses,  a  summary  of  the  reports  of  the  denominational 
State  superintendents  was  given  by  the  national  superintendent.  Rev. 
J.  Z.  Tyler,  D.D.  

The  Christians  listened  to  interesting  accounts  of  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  extension  of  Christian  Endeavor  work. 


The  Methodist  Protestants  received  cheering  reports  from  the  officers 
of  their  national  union,  and  awarded  Texas  their  banner  for  the  great- 
est proportionate  increase  in  membership.  Unanimous  approval  was 
given  a  suggestion  of  a  course  in  church  history  for  Junior  Societies. 


The  Methodists  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  discussed  the 
action  to  be  taken  in  view  of  the  relations  between  Methodism  and 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  spoke  of  the  excellent  results  to  be  gained  by 
the  Canadian  plan  of  Epworth  Leagues  of  Christian  Endeavor. 


Christian  citizenship  was  the  topic  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal assembly,  and  freedom  of  the  soul  was  pointed  out  as  the  chief 
essential  of  a  good  citizen.  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Endeavorers  bore  witness  to  the  good  points  of  the  societies  among 
them.  

A  missionary  flavor  marked  the  rally  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 
America,  as  work  among  the  Indians,  in  Japan,  and  in  India  was 
reported.  

Statements  of  the  best  points  in  their  different  Endeavor  Societies 
were  made  by  the  delegates  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States.  The  gifts  of  the  societies  during  the  year  included  the  fulfil- 
ment of  a  pledge  for  a  fund  for  church-building. 

The  work  among  the  Free  Baptists  was  reported  by  representatives 
of  different  sections,  and  support  of  the  denominational  paper  was 
urged.  

Greetings  from  the  Luther  League  were  received  by  the  Lutherans, 
who  heard  from  their  secretary  a  report  of  growth  during  the  past  year. 
The  harmony  between  the  principles  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  the 


98  Official  Report  of  the 

denomination  were  set  forth  in  addresses,  which  were  followed  by  an 
open  parliament.  

The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  in  the  interests  of  denominational 
loyalty  adopted  a  resolution  declaring  their  opposition  to  any  change 
in  the  form  of  organization  of  the  United  Society. 

The  Canadian  Presbyterians  passed  a  vote  expressing  hearty  thanks 
to  their  General  Assembly  for  its  generous  recognition  of  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  affirming  their  continued  loyalty. 


The  Southern  Presbyterians  reviewed  the  past  of  their  church, 
especially  in  regard  to  missionary  activity,  and  considered  the  work 
lying  before  them  in  the  immediate  future. 

Testimony  to  the  value  of  the  Society  was  heartily  given  by  United 
Presbyterians,  and  its  power  as  a  bond  of  unity  was  emphasized. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterians  found  cheer  in  looking  to  the  promise 
of  the  future,  to  be  realized  through  the  agency  of  the  Society. 


Open  parliaments  dealing  with  methods  of  meeting  difificulties, 
together  with  addresses  on  giving  and  missions,  formed  a  large  part 
of  the  programme  of  the  United  Evangelical  Church,  who  discussed 
the  interests  of  the  Keystone  League  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

The  Friends'  denominational  Christian  Endeavor  president,  in  his 
annual  report,  recommended  increased  organization,  special  courses  of 
Bible  study,  and  the  appointment  of  a  missionary  to  extend  the  Junior 
work.  

The  United  Brethren  had  music  by  the  Christian  Endeavor  choir  of 
the  church  where  they  met,  and  the  Junior  Society  conducted  the  last 
part  of  the  meeting.  Among  the  addresses  was  one  on  the  best  read- 
ing for  young  people.  

Many  of  the  benefits  of  Christian  Endeavor  had  been  discovered  in 
its  practical  application  among  the  Mennonites,  as  many  speakers  bore 
witness.  

Those  Episcopalians  that  had  tried  Christian  Endeavor  were  loud  in 
its  praise,  and  were  urgent  for  its  further  extension  in  their  churches, 
as  its  two  principles  of  work  and  prayer  are  essential  to  every  church. 

The  highest  ideal  and  the  individual's  mission  in  the  church  were 
topics  brought  before  the  Reformed  Episcopalians,  who  closed  their 
rally  with  a  consecration  service. 

The  good  of  organization  and  the  need  of  it,  especially  in  country 
places,  were  urged  in  the  rally  of  the  Church  of  God,  and  Christian 
Endeavor's  fitness  to  meet  the  need  was  pointed  out. 


Fifteenth  International  Co7ivention.  99 

Reports  as  to  increase  in  membership,  missionary  gifts,  and  evan- 
gelistic work  told  of  the  prosperity  and  earnestness  of  the  Moravian 
Societies.  

Successful  and  enthusiastic  gatherings  were  held  by  the  German 
and  Welsh  Societies,  at  which  the  music  was  a  prominent  feature. 


THURSDAY  EVENING. 

Under  two  mammoth  tents,  in  half  a  dozen  churches,  and  within  one 
of  the  great  halls  of  the  city,  thousands  of  Christian  Endeavorers  gath- 
ered to  raise  songs  of  praise  to  God,  and  to  listen  to  addresses  by  dis- 
tinguished speakers  on  the  duties  of  Christian  citizenship.  For  the 
first  time  the  skies  did  not  even  threaten  rain,  and  the  evening  was 
cool  and  pleasant.  For  the  first  time  the  great  throng  of  Endeavorers 
could  give  themselves  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  meeting,  and  even  on 
the  street-cars  choruses  of  well-trained  voices  would  burst  forth  in  well- 
known  Christian  Endeavor  hymns. 

iletropolitan  M.  E.  Church. 

The  meeting  which  was  to  have  been  held  at  Tent  Williston  took 
place  instead  at  the  Metropolitan  M.  E.  Church,  which  was  not  large 
enough  to  accommodate  anything  like  the  number  of  people  that  sought 
admission. 

The  principal  feature  of  the  evening  was  an  address  by  President 
Booker  T.  Washington,  of  the  Tuskegee  Institute  of  Alabama.  Dr. 
Washington  is  the  colored  man  who  so  electrified  an  audience  at  the 
Atlanta  Exposition  last  year  by  his  eloquence,  and  at  a  bound  leaped 
into  public  fame  as  an  orator  and  as  an  exponent  of  the  needs  of  his 
race. 

The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  President  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D., 
and  after  a  service  of  song  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  E.  O.  Excell, 
and  the  opening  devotional  exercises,  a  double  quartet  from  Hampton 
Institute  sang  several  times  with  telling  effect. 

A  letter  of  greeting  from  Hon.  Neal  Dow  was  then  read  by  Rev. 
Rufus  W.  Miller,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  founder  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Andrew  and  Philip,  and  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society. 

Letter  from  Hon.  Neal  Dow,  Portland,  Me. 

Portland,  June  25,  1S96. 
Mr.  John  Willis  Baer  :  — 

Dear  Sz'r, — I  am  very  sorry  that  my  strength  will  not  warrant  me  in  under- 
taking the  long  journey  to  Washington  to  assist  in  the  great  work  of  the  Endeav- 
orers. They  are  now  a  great  power  in  thiscountry,  and  every  year  will  increase 
their  influence  and  force  among  those  of  our  people  who  wish  to  increase  the 
prosperity  of  the  nation  and  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people's  homes. 
I  earnestly  desire  that  the  Endeavorers  will  boldly  resist  everything  that  is 


100  Official  Report  of  the 

inconsistent  with  the  general  welfare,  boldly  opposing  it  as  opposed  to  the  will 
of  God,  with  no  thought  of  any  evil  consequences  to  self.  At  the  same  time  I 
wish  them  to  stand  up  for  the'right  without  fear  from  any  quarter.  I  say  this 
because  I  fear  that  many  well-meaning  men  shrink  from  any  open  help  to  a  good 
cause  lest  they  suffer  from  the  enmity  of  bad  men  who  may  have  power  to  do 
them  an  injury  by  boycott  or  otherwise.  There  is  one  matter  to  which  I  will 
especially  call  their  attention,  because  they  can  accomplish  an  infinite  good 
without  fear  of  any  one  when  engaged  in  God's  work. 

The  liquor  traffic  is  a  far  greater  evil  to  all  civilized  countries  than  any  other 
by  which  the  world  is  cursed;  its  suppression  would  be  a  benefit  and  blessing 
to  the  nations  and  to  the  people  — greater  than  any  other  that  is  occupying 
public  attention.  I  believe  that  the  overthrow  of  this  great  sin  against  God, 
this  great  crime  against  the  country,  may  be  accomplished  by  the  Endeavorers. 
To  do  this  requires  the  courage  which  they  have,  their  great  numbers  rapidly 
increasing,  and  a  cordial  co-operation  with  each  other.  Perhaps  the  Endeav- 
orers may  be  startled  if  I  say  that  the  continuance  of  the  liquor  traffic,  with  all 
its  horrors,  largely  depends  upon  them.  That  is  what  I  think,  but  I  hope  and 
believe  that  it  will  not  long  continue  to  be  so.  The  issue  of  the  Christian  at 
Work  of  the  29th  of  October,  1891,  said :  — 

"  The  liquor  traffic  exists  in  this  country  to-day  only  by  sufferance  of  the 
membership  of  the  Christian  churches.  They  are  masters  of  the  situation,  so 
far  as  the  abolition  of  the  traffic  is  concerned.  When  they  say,  '  Go,  and  vote, 
go  ;  '  it  will  go."  This  whole  question  of  the  perpetual  nuisance  of  the  saloons, 
or  their  speedy  overthrow,  is  a  question  of  the  ballot  alone.  Is  that  averment 
iust  and  true,  or  is  it  a  mistake  ^  Does  the  liquor  traffic  depend  for  its  exist- 
ence upon  the  membership  of  the  Church,  or  only  upon  the  worst  elements  of 

society.?  ,        ,  ,  ,  .      ,  . 

It  is  said  that  the  Protestant  church-members  who  are  voters  m  this  country 
are  at  least  5,000,000  in  number.  If  that  be  true,  it  may  be  honestly  said  that 
the  continuance  of  that  great  sin,  shame,  crime,  and  infamy  depends  upon  the 
permission  of  the  church  membership,  because  their  ballots,  honestly  employed, 
may  easily  destroy  the  grog-shops  promptly. 

In  a  sermon  of  the  late  Dr.  Payson,  entitled  "  Participation  in  Other  Men  s 
Sins"hesavs:  "  Members  of  civil  communities  partake  of  all  the  sins  which 
they'mio-ht,  but  do  not,  prevent.  When  a  person  has  power  to  prevent  any  sin, 
he  is  left  to  choose  whether  that  sin  shall  or  shall  not  be  committed.  If  he 
neglects  to  prevent  it,  it  is  evident  that  he  chooses  it  should  be  committed,  and 
by  thus  choosing  he  has  in  effect  made  it  his  own." 

That  that  is  true  no  intelligent  person  can  deny.  In  Dr.  Payson's  day  there 
was  no  preacher  in  the  country  who  held  a  higher  position  in  the  pulpit.  Chris- 
tian Endeavorers,  protest  against  the  continuance  of  the  liquor  traffic.  There 
is  no  other  way  in  which  that  can  possibly  be  done  except  through  the  ballot- 
box.     He  who  knows  the  right,  and  does  it  not,  to  him  it  is  sin. 

Neal  Dow. 

After   the    reading  of    Mr.  Dow's  letter,  which  was  received  with 
applause,  President  Clark  introduced  President  Booker  T.  Washington. 
At  the  request  of  Dr.  Washington,  we  do  not  print  his  address. 

First  Congregational  Church. 

The  Christian  citizenship  meeting  at  the  First  Congregational 
Church  was  preceded  by  a  song  service,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  F. 
J.  Woodman,  of  Washington,  and  participated  in  by  the  choirs  of  the 
Central  Presbyterian,  Fifth  Congregational,  and  Fifteenth  Street  Pres- 
byterian Churches. 


FifteentJi  IiitcrnatioJial  Convention.  101 

Rev.  M.  M.  Binford,  of  Richmond,  Ind.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
United  Society,  presided  over  the  meeting,  and  after  a  Scripture  lesson, 
in  which  the  congregation  joined.  Rev.  James  E.  Mason,  of  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  led  in  prayer. 

Mrs,  Ruth  E.  Baker,  of  Boston,  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  was  the  first  speaker  intro- 
duced. 

Address  of  Mrs.  Ruth  B.  Baker,  Boston,  Mass. 

Why  do  we  believe  that  temperance  reform  has  anything  to  do  with  Chris- 
tian citizenship.''  Surely  none  need  ask  this  question  when  we  recall  more  than 
one  shameful  instance  of  the  false  representation  of  Christianity  abroad,  by  our 
government  appointing  ministers  or  consuls  who  have  been  the  centre  of 
drunken  brawls;  when  again  and  again  our  missionaries  report  that  the  heathen 
have  compared  our  religion  unfavorably  with  theirs,  because  they  never  drink 
and  people  whom  they  regard  as  Christians,  because  coming  from  Christian 
lands,  do. 

Can  we  ask  what  claim  the  temperance  reform  has  upon  Christian  citizens 
when  we  remember  the  record  of  the  past  ten  years,  or  more,  on  the  Congo? — 
the  years  smce  the  Berlin  West  African  Conference  1 

If  you  are  not  familiar  with  the  history,  read  "  Free  Rum  on  the  Congo,"  by 
Mr.  W.  T.  Hornaday.  Canon  Farrar,  about  the  same  time,  spoke  with  no 
uncertain  sound  in  England,  and  declared  the  present  curse  of  the  liquor  traffic 
far  more  deadly  than  the  old  curse  of  the  slave  trade.  At  least  you  will  remem- 
ber how  these  words  have  been  emphasized  in  years  gone  by  by  the  pathetic 
appeals  of  the  native  chiefs  and  rulers  to  keep  out  the  drink,  and  none  of  you 
who  saw  him  can  have  forgotten  Dr.  John  G.  Paton.  when  only  two  or  three 
years  ago  he  was  forced  to  leave  his  work  in  the  South  Sea  Islands  to  come  to 
plead  with  England's  Queen  and  the  President  of  this  great  and  noble  country, 
to  use  his  own  language,  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  firearms  and  intoxicat- 
ing liquors  that  threatened  to  destroy  the  fruit  of  all  his  years  of  labor  among 
his  beloved  Islanders.  I  heard  him  plead  in  the  name  of  the  dear  Lord  Jesus 
that  Christians  would  all  unite  to  petition  our  government  to  act  in  this 
matter. 

When  we  remember  the  effects  in  our  own  land  of  this  gigantic  evil,  we  can- 
not question  whether  there  be  any  relation  between  the  temperance  reform 
and  Christian  citizenship. 

All  Christendom  has  been  thrilled  with  horror  on  account  of  the  Armenian, 
atrocities.  We  have  felt  faint  and  sick  as  we  have  read  of  the  horrible  deeds 
committed,  and  they  are  too  dreadful  to  repeat  unnecessarily.  But  have  you 
thought  that  intemperance  causes  just  such  suffering  ;  that  the  worst  that  is 
pictured  of  Turkey  is  fully  paralleled  by  the  drink  curse  ;  that  the  atrocities  are 
not  less  frightful,  nor  the  awful  aggregate  less? 

Our  working  people  throw  away  every  year  $750,000,000  for  liquor.  It  emp- 
ties our  churches ;  it  fills  our  prisons  and  insane  asylums  ;  it  brings  sorrow  and 
misery  to  the  homes  of  rich  and  poor  alike ;  it  carries  thousands  to  an  untimely 
grave;  it  mocks  at  and  frustrates  all  our  efforts  to  Christianize  the  heathen. 
In  the  great  sum  total  of  misery  and  suffering  and  all  forms  of  evil  that  go  to 
compose  the  great  mountain  of  sin,  that  is  some  day  to  become  a  plain,  the 
liquor  traffic  is  responsible  for  by  far  the  greatest  proportion. 

We  covet  the  active  interest  of  the  millions  of  Christian  Endeavorers  against 
this  monster  evil,  and  we  call  on  you  as  Christian  citizens  to  say  what  you  will 
do  to  help  in  the  battle  for  humanity. 

Wellington  said  at  Waterloo,  "  We  want  young  soldiers !  "  We  want  you, 
young  men,  because  you  are  strong;  we  want  the  young  ladies,  whose  influence 
is  no  less  strong,  to  show  in  no  uncertain  way  that  you  are  always  and  forever 
against  the  perpetuity  of  this  great  evil  tliat  so  affects  the  happiness  of  thou- 
sands in  this  state  and  national,  if  not  private,  home  of  ours. 


102  Official  Report  of  the 

We  want  you  to  stand  for  temperance  reform  as  you  stand  for  missions. 
First,  for  your  own  sakes  you  should  become  a  total  abstainer.  I  know  many 
young  people  think  that  they  can  indulge  in  an  occasional  glass  of  wine  without 
injury,  and  that  they  can  let  it  alone  if  they  wish;  but  tliere  is  something  in  the 
power  ofthe  wine-cup  that  can  best  be  defined  by  the  word  "deceit."  "  Whosoever 
is  deceived  thereby  is  not  wise."  I  believe  the  only  absolute  safety  for  any  one 
before  me  is  total  abstinence.  But  if  you  are  absolutely  sure  in  your  own  mind 
that  there  is  no  danger  for  you,  will  you  not  sign  the  pledge  because  of  your 
brother? 

Last  year,  I  saw  a  beautiful  object-lesson  in  London,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
World's  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union.  In  the  crowded  Royal  Albert 
Hall,  from  an  entrance  at  the  rear  of  the  platform,  came  fifty  or  more  of  the 
children  of  the  slums,  dressed  just  as  we  see  them  in  any  of  our  large  cities,  the 
only  difference  being  in  their  cleanliness.  There  were  tall,  lank  girls  with 
babies  in  their  arms;  there  were  thin,  pinched,  hungry-looking  faces,  and  they 
all  looked,  oh,  so  sad  and  sorrowful  !  As  they  came  to  the  front  of  the  platform 
in  the  brightly  lighted  hall,  and  stood  before  the  richly  dressed  throng,  they 
began  to  sing:  — 

"  There  's  a  shadow  on  the  home, 

Many  hearts  are  sad  to-day  ; 
It  hushes  e'en  the  laughter  of  the 

Children  at  their  play. 
At  its  coming,  want  and  sorrow 

Across  the  threshold  creep, 
And  amid  their  broken  idols 

The  mourning  mothers  weep." 

As  these  words  were  sung  the  doors  at  the  front  opened,  and  hundreds  of 
children  from  more  favored  homes,  clad  in  white  and  holding  aloft  a  broad 
white  ribbon,  entered  two  by  two,  singing, — 

"  We  are  coming  to  the  rescue,''  etc., 

and  as  they  finished  the  first  verse  they  halted  in  front  of  the  platform.  Again 
rose  the  sweet,  pathetic  voices  of  the  children  of  the  slums : — 

"  There  's  an  evil  in  the  land. 
And  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord 
Is  hindered  in  its  coming,"  etc., 

and  then  the  white-robed  children  in  front,  commencing  once  more  the  joyful 
strain, 

"  We  are  coming  to  the  rescue," 

divided,  coming  up  the  stairs  each  side  of  the  platform,  and  surrounded  again 
and  again  with  the  white  ribbon  the  poor  little  waifs  that  stood  there.  Those 
who  saw  it  will  never  forget  the  sight.  Will  you  not  join  that  rescuing  army, 
and  use  your  utmost  endeavor  to  banish  this  evil  and  this  sorrow  from  the 
world  .''  At  least  say,  "  I  will  stand  upon  my  watch,  and  set  me  upon  the  tower, 
and  will  watch  to  see  what  he  will  say  unto  me  "  in  reference  to  this  temper- 
ance reform  and  my  duty  and  responsibility  as  a  Christian  citizen. 

Miss  May  Levers,  of  Washington,  sang  effectively  "The  Holy  City," 
and  then  the  presiding  officer  stated  that  it  is  necessary  for  Christian 
workers  to  mass  their  forces.  "  In  this  city  not  so  very  many  years  ago," 
he  continued,  "  millions  of  our  fellow  citizens  were  set  free  by  a  single 
stroke  of  the  pen.  We  have  with  us  this  evening,"  next  said  the 
presiding  officer,  "one  of  that  race  who  has  honored  our  conventions 
heretofore  by  appearing  on  its  programme  and  who  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  United  Society.  I  take  great  pleasure 
in  presenting  to  you  Bishop  Alexander  Walters,  D.D.,  of  Jersey  City, 
N.  j." 


Fifteenth  Inteniatioiial  Convention.  108 

Bishop  Walters  was  warmly  received,  and  he  announced  the  topic 
assigned  to  be  "  The  Need  of  Christian  Citizenship  in  Municipal,  State, 
and  National  Affairs." 

Address  of  Bishop  Alexander  Walters,  D.D.,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

Solomon  declared  centuries  ago  that  "  when  the  righteous  are  in  authority, 
the  people  rejoice :  but  when  the  wicked  beareth  rule,  the  people  mourn."  This 
truth  is  as  applicable  to-day  in  our  land  as  it  was  in  the  land  of  Palestine  in 
the  clays  of  the  wise  king. 

Great  intellectual,  spiritual,  moral,  and  material  progress  was  made  by  the 
Israelites  of  old  under  the  leadership  of  Moses,  Joshua,  Samuel,  David,  Solo- 
mon, Hezekiah,  and  others.  On  the  other  hand,  Israel  and  Judah  were  wasted 
and  blasted,  suffered  defeats  and  humiliations,  and  were  finally  carried  away 
into  captivity  because  of  the  sins  of  their  wicked  rulers.  When  Ahab  said  to 
Elijah,  "  Art  thou  he  that  troubleth  Israel?  "  the  prophet  answered,  "  I  have 
not  troublfd  Israel;  but  thou,  and  thy  father's  house,  in  that  ye  have  forsaken 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord." 

We  read  in  the  Scriptures  that  Jeroboam  made  Israel  to  sin;  that  is,  he 
opened  wide  the  flood-gates  of  idolatry  and  used  all  his  kingly  influence  and 
authority  to  keep  them  open.  None  of  his  successors  was  able  to  stem  the  tide 
of  wickedness  which  was  inaugurated  during  his  reign.  It  is  surprising  how 
much  evil  a  wicked  ruler  can  bring  about. 

Rome  reached  her  lowest  point  of  infamy  and  degradation  during  the  reign 
of  Nero.  No  crime  was  too  great,  no  sin  too  heinous,  for  him  to  commit.  He 
encouraged  all  manner  of  debauchery,  and  as  a  result  plunged  his  entire  realm 
into  an  abyss  of  public  disgrace.  His  name  is  a  synonym  for  wickedness,  and 
his  reign  a  history  of  cruelty  and  bloodshed. 

About  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  rulers  of  France  declared  for 
infidelity,  in  consequence  of  which  she  had  a  "  Reign  of  Terror." 

The  morals  of  the  English  nation  were  at  a  low  ebb  during  the  reign  of  the 
licentious  king,  Henry  the  Eighth. 

The  endorsement  of  slavery  by  our  rulers  was  the  occasion  of  confusion  and 
bitter  strife,  which  finally  deluged  our  land  with  blood,  depleted  our  treasury, 
and  desolated  our  homes.  Indeed,  the  baneful  effects  of  that  accursed  institu- 
tion are  being  felt  even  to  this  day. 

A  wise  ruler  is  of  incalculable  benefit  to  a  nation.  We  have  an  example  of 
this  in  our  mother  country,  England.  She  has  enjoyed  marvelous  progress  in 
her  commerce,  institutions  of  learning,  political  influence,  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs  during  the  reign  of  her  wise  and  virtuous  Queen,  Victoria.  Indeed, 
England's  prosperity  and  achievements  have  been  phenomenal  since  her 
accession  to  the  throne. 

When  that  fair-minded,  liberty-loving  giant,  Abraham  Lincoln,  was  elected 
President  of  these  United  States,  the  South  seceded  from  the  Union,  for  she 
believed  that  his  election  meant  the  overthrow  of  slavery.  Her  fears  were  well 
founded.  His  very  soul  revolted  against  oppression  and  wrong,  therefore  he 
could  only  act  in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  right  which  governed  him. 
The  righteous  cause  espoused  by  him  gained  adherents  so  rapidly  that  in  a  few 
years  he  was  enabled  to  emancipate  the  slaves. 

Some  of  our  large  cities  have  been  blessed  with  wise  and  just  rulers.  Such 
cities  enjoyed  great  peace  and  prosperity  during  their  incumbency.  Wicked- 
ness was  checked,  and  in  many  cases  some  forms  of  it  destroyed.  For  instance, 
in  New  York  City,  where  that  abominable  organization  known  as  Tammany 
Hall  held  sway  for  many  years,  and  whose  power  was  so  formidable  that  it 
seemed  impossible  to  overthrow  it.  But  when  Christian  men  and  women, 
stimulated  by  Rev.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst  and  other  ministers  of  New  York, 
rose  in  their  might  and  took  as  their  slogan  of  victory,  "  Down  with  Tam- 
many! "  Tammany  went  down;  for  they  not  only  raised  the  cry,  "  Down  with 
Tammany  !  "  but  pulled  off  their  coats,  went  to  work,  and  continued  to  work 


104  Official  Report  of  the 

until  they  overthrew  that  wicked  organization.     My  only  regret  is  that  it  was 
not  utterly  destroyed. 

Christians  are  too  ready  to  retire  to  their  tents  after  a  flushing  victory.  They 
forget  the  prophet's  warning  to  Ahab  after  he  had  routed  Ben-hadad.  He  said 
to  him,  "  Go,  strengthen  thyself,  and  mark  (watch),  and  see  what  thou  doest: 
for  at  the  return  of  the  year  the  king  of  Syria  will  come  up  against  thee."  Be 
assured  your  enemy  will  return  again  to  renew  the  attack ;  get  ready  for  him. 
Eternal  vigilance  must  be  our  watchword. 

If  Christian  citizens  expect  to  win,  there  must  be  no  lagging  in  the  ranks,  no 
indifference  on  their  part,  no  letting-up  on  the  enemy.  Our  foes  are  ever  on 
the  alert,  ever  watchful;  after  every  defeat  they  resolve  to  renew  the  attack. 

If  the  question  were  asked,  "How  can  we  make  good  citizens .?  "  I  would 
reply,  "  First,  by  Christian  homes;  second,  by  a  spiritual  and  patriotic  Church  ; 
third,  by  efficient  and  patriotic  public  schools;  fourth,  by  good-citizenship 
leagues  ;  fifth,  by  voting  as  we  pray." 

In  no  place  can  the  principles  of  Christian  citizenship  be  so  effectually 
taught  as  in  the  home.  In  order  to  have  Christian  citizens  we  must  have 
Christian  homes,  where  the  father  believes  and  trusts  in  God,  and  the  mother 
is  imbued  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ ;  where  the  Bible  is  read  and  studied,  prayer 
offered,  and  patriotism  taught.  The  ablest  and  best  men  of  the  world  were 
trained  in  religious  homes.  It  was  said  of  the  mother  of  General  Grant  that 
her  home  was  a  fitting  nursery  for  heroes,  because  religion,  patriotism,  industry, 
economy,  and  temperance  were  taught  and  practised  there'.  It  was  patriotic 
home-training  that  made  William  Lloyd  Garrison  a  courageous  agitator  of  the 
rights  of  humanity.  Methodism  owes  an  inestimable  debt  of  gratitude  to 
Susannah  Wesley  for  the  splendid  religious  training  of  her  two  sons,  the 
founders  of  Methodism  ;  and  wherever  this  church  exists  her  influence  is  felt. 

We  need  more  homes  where  patriotic  songs  are  sung,  wh^re  children  are 
taught  to  love  our  grand  institutions,  to  honor  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  to 
respect  our  rulers  ;  where  the  principles  of  temperance  and  good  government  are 
inculcated.  Out  from  such  homes  will  go  forth  worthy  citizens.  Character 
and  intelligence  are  the  true  foundations  of  citizenship. 

The  need  of  the  hour  is  more  and  better  religious  training  in  the  home.  If 
our  children  are  taught  to  observe  the  rules  of  home,  there  will  be  no  trouble 
about  their  obeymg  the  laws  of  the  land. 

An  important  factor  in  the  formation  of  Christian  citizens  is  a  live  and 
patriotic  church;  a  church  all  aglow  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ;  where  not  only 
the  doctrines  of  salvation  are  taught,  but  where  the  principles  of  good 
government  are  proclaimed,  sermons  preached  on  state  and  national  issues 
of  the  day,  and  the  duties  of  man  to  man  set  forth.  Such  a  church  was  old 
Plymouth,  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  her  palmy  days  under  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  It 
was  said  that  no  one  could  enter  Plymouth  Church  and  remain  through  a  ser- 
vice without  being  impressed  with  the  thought  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Christians 
to  aid  the  unfortunate  and  oppressed.  The  very  atmosphere  breathed  love  and 
the  rights  of  humanity. 

In  the  olden  times  the  Church  and  State  were  one.  Abraham  was  not  only 
the  head  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  but  the  head  of  the  Hebrew  Church.  While  we 
do  not  believe  in  the  matter  in  that  particular  form,  we  do  believe  that  every 
department  of  our  government  should  be  controlled  by  the  principles  of  Christi- 
anity. Christ  has  given  to  the  Church  the  ideal  standard  of  man's  duty  to  his 
fellow  man.  Hear  it!  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them." 

The  Church  was  established  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  mankind.  It  is 
here  we  teach  men  and  women  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  faith  in  each 
other. 

It  was  the  Church  that  gave  to  the  world  a  Moses,  a  Solomon,  a  Paul,  Luther, 
Calvin,  Knox,  Wesley,  Edwards,  Beecher,  and  other  great  leaders  and  thinkers, 
such  as  Frederick  of  Saxony,  Gladstone,  Newton,  Douglass,  etc. 

For  centuries  the  torch  of  civilization  has  been  borne  aloft  by  the  Church,  and 
the  world  has  and  is  being  benefited  by  the  influence  radiating  therefrom.     It 


Fifteenth  International  Co7ivc7ition.  105 

is  the  light  of  the  Church  that  is  to  dispel  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion, and  doubt. 

Another  essential  factor  in  the  making  of  loyal  and  intelligent  citizens  is 
good  public  schools.  If  we  would  have  intelligent  voters  throughout  the  nation 
we  must  have  good  schools  in  the  rural  districts  as  well  as  in  the  cities.  In 
some  sections  of  our  country  the  public  schools  are  open  only  two  or  three 
months  in  the  year;  this  is  notably  so  in  nearly  all  the  Southern  States.  Stren- 
uous efforts  must  be  made  to  correct  this  error.  Each  State  ought  to  appro- 
priate enough  money  to  keep  all  the  public  schools  open  at  least  six  months  in 
the  year,  and  nine  months  if  possible.  The  great  mass  in  the  Black  Belt  is 
thirsting  for  knowledge  ;  their  cry  is,  "  Give  us  more  schools  and  longer  terms." 
The  greatest  blessing  that  could  come  to  the  Afro-American  in  the  South  is 
further  aid  along  educational  and  industrial  lines,  and  a  fair  chance  to  be 
whatever  in  the  providence  of  God  he  is  capable  of  being  by  intelligence,  dili- 
gence, and  frugality. 

As  a  race,  we  are  accused  of  not  being  intelligent  voters.  If  we  are  not,  the 
fault  is  not  altogether  our  own ;  as  yet  we  have  not  had  a  fair  chance.  Give  us 
a  sufficient  number  of  schools,  competent  instructors,  and  longer  school  terms, 
and  there  will  not  be  much  ground  for  complaint  of  our  incompetency  as 
voters. 

The  lamented  Bishop  Haygood,  of  Georgia,  made  the  following  statement  a 
few  years  ago  :  "  The  illiterate  vote  of  our  Southern  States  is  simply  appal- 
ling, and  this  illiterate  vote  is  increasing.  From  1870  to  iSSo  there  was  an 
increase  of  illiterate  voters  in  the  Southern  States  of  nearly  two  hundred  thou- 
sand. In  Georgia  the  illiterate  white  vote  in  1S70  was  21,899;  in  1880,  28,571. 
The  negro  illiterate  vote  in  1870  was  100,551  ;  in  1880,  1 16.5 17.  The  white  illit- 
erate vote  in  Kentucky,  in  1870,  was  43,826;  in  1880,  54,966.  The  negro  illiter- 
ate vote  was,  in  1870,  37,849;  in  1880,  45,177.  In  Tennessee  the  white  illiterate 
vote  was,  in  1870,  37,713  ;  in  1880,  46,948.  The  negro  illiterate  vote  was,  in  1870, 
55,958;  in  1880,  58,601.  In  Texas,  in  1870,  the  white  illiterate  vote  was  17,505; 
in  1S80,  33,085.      The  negro  illiterate  vote  in  1870  was  47,235 ;  in  1880,  59,609." 

The  increase  of  illiteracy  from  1880  to  1890  was  nearly  as  great  in  those 
States. 

We  appeal  to  the  President  and  Congress ;  we  appeal  to  our  Governors  and 
State  Legislatures,  to  all  ecclesiastical  bodies  throughout  our  great  Common- 
wealth, to  our  philanthropic  friends  outside  of  the  Church,  and  to  all  lovers  of 
good  and  intelligent  citizenship,  to  aid  us  in  our  struggle  for  more  and  better 
schools,  in  order  to  eliminate  the  great  illiteracy  of  our  land. 

Good-citizenship  leagues  are  another  medium  through  which  to  make  pa- 
triotic citizens.  I  think  the  Church  ought  to  encourage  such  organizations.  If 
we  win  it  must  be  through  concentrated  effort;  in  order  to  accomplish  this  we 
must  have  organization.  Combination  is  the  theme  of  the  hour.  We  hear  a 
great  deal  about  combinations  now-a-days, —  a  combination  to  fix  a  monetary 
standard  ;  combinations  to  advance  commerce  ;  combinations  to  improve  cities ; 
combinations  to  boom  real  estate ;  combinations  to  lower  prices,  and  combina- 
tions to  raise  them;  combinations  to  defeat  good  legislation.  The  Christian 
Endeavor  deserves  great  praise  for  combining  the  Christian  forces  of  the  world 
to  abolish  corruption  by  defeating  wicked  men  and  measures. 

Last,  but  not  least,  if  we  would  advance  the  cause  of  good  citizenship  we 
must  vote  as  we  pray.  If  we  are  praying  for  the  destruction  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  we  must  vote  for  the  men  who  are  willing  to  overthrow  it.  If  we  are 
praying  for  the  extermination  of  the  brothels  and  gambling-dens,  we  must  see 
to  it  that  men  are  nominated  and  elected  (regardless  of  favoritism  or  party 
affiliations)  who  will  close  them  up.  If  we  are  praying  for  the  preservation  of 
our  Sabbath,  we  must  demand  the  nomination  and  election  of  men  who  will 
uphold  its  sanctity.     In  a  word,  we  must  act  consistently  with  our  prayers. 

The  next  speaker  was  Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield,  of  Chicago. 


106  Official  Report  of  the 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Fifield,  Chicago,  III. 

For  a  long  time  the  Church  has  been  asleep.  Her  eyes  have  been  closed  as 
tightly  as  those  of  Pharaoh's  mummy.  Seated  on  soft  cushions,  charmed  with 
sweet  song,  she  forgot  her  mission.  The  great  bugle-calls  that  startled  the 
Church  in  the  past  centuries  and  sent  it  an  invincible  host  against  evil;  that 
caught  up  those  words  of  heroism, ''  Let  the  Lord  arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be 
scattered,"  until  despots  were  smitten  from  thrones  and  fetters  broken  from 
men,  are  no  longer  heard.  The  minister  preaches  about  love  and  evolution 
while  a  weak  and  powerless  church  changes  itself  into  a  restaurant  for  serving 
soup  and  cake  to  pay  the  salaries.  While  the  Church  has  been  inactive  Satan 
has  come  in  and  taken  the  land.  As  the  frogs  came  out  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt 
until  they  croaked  in  store  and  palace,  so  have  evils  crept  and  crawled  with 
slimy  trail  across  the  nation.  Like  the  vale  of  Siddim,  America  is  full  of  slime- 
pits.  Talk  about  the  wild  beasts  of  African  jungles  !  Here  are  beasts  a  thou- 
sand-fold more  ferocious.  Their  fangs  are  more  bloody  ;  their  poisonous 
touch,  more  deadly.  The  lairs  where  they  crouch  and  coil  are  paved  with 
marble,  walled  with  gold,  flooded  with  song;  yet  they  tear  their  victims  limb 
from  limb  and  lap  with  savage  growl  their  blood.  While  the  Church  sentinel 
has  slept  the  enemy  has  come  in  and  fortified  in  strong  places.  Behind  earth- 
work and  equipped  with  arms  it  seems  unconquerable.  Now  the  Church  is  grow 
ing  thoroughly  awake  and  there  is  trouble.  The  young  people  are  shaking  the 
elders  and  deacons.  The  women  are  holding  up  the  unsteady  hands  of  the 
clergy.  God  is  planting  his  batteries  and  an  aroused  Church  is  hearing,  better 
than  for  a  hundred  years,  the  great  words  of  new  duties.  I  know  some  faint- 
hearted and  sheeny  lovers  of  peace  are  going  to  the  rear ;  but  with  this  great 
gathering  in  the  lead  the  doubting  brethren  of  the  churches  may  close  in 
behind. 

America  is  God's  charity  for  humanity.  It  is  the  open  gate  for  the  human 
race.  Could  you  lift  up  the  United  States  as  Milton's  angels  lifted  the  hills  of 
heaven,  you  could  find  no  other  place  to  put  them  down.  They  would  cover 
all  of  Europe,  and  spread  on  into  Asia  and  Africa.  We  are  only  true  to  facts 
when  we  say  that  this  is  the  greatest  stretch  of  arable  land  on  the  globe. 
These  great  conventions  which  take  our  young  people  across  the  continent  are 
helping  us  to  learn  American  geography.  We  are  told  that  our  forefathers 
once  called  fifteen  miles  west  of  Boston  the  western  limit.  They  drove  a  stake 
there,  that  the  sun  might  have  a  place  to  go  down  behind  it.  But  civilization 
came  this  way.  The  emigrants'  wagon  broke  down  the  stake.  Tiien  the  Hud- 
son River  was  the  western  limit.  But  the  stream  of  civilization  came  on.  It 
rushed  through  the  Mississippi  Valley,  beat  and  dashed  its  way  over  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and,  like  mighty  billows,  surged  and  bounded  to  the  Golden  Gate. 
What  a  great  country  is  here  !  Colorado  would  make  twenty-two  Connecticuts. 
Our  New  England  States  would  get  lost  were  they  to  enter  Texas  or  the  Dakotas, 
and  it  would  require  an  exploration  party  to  find  them  again.  Land  here  suffi- 
cient for  the  millions  of  mankind!  The  Swede  can  live  in  Minnesota  and 
dream  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  Catholic  may  dwell  in  Maryland  with  more 
liberty  than  in  Rome  itself.  The  Quaker  can  peacefully  stay  in  Pennsylvania 
and  be  as  broad  in  his  ideas  as  he  is  broad  in  hishat.  The  Irishman  can  stop  any- 
where and  never  fear  snakes.  Here  even  the  negro,  now,  can  own  a  home  of  his 
own;  the  morning-glories  may  blossom  at  his  window,  and  his  own  chickens 
play'in  his  yard ;  while  his  child,  free  and  ambitious,  may  receive  our  civic 
wreaths  and  occupy  honored  and  responsible  positions  in  our  land.  What  a 
o-reat  land  is  here  !  And  yet,  my  friends,  while  we  have  room  for  all,  while  each 
may  dwell  here  in  peace,  there  is  in  America  air  sufficient  to  stir  but  one  flag. 
That  flag  is  the  one  that  was  baptized  with  blood  yonder  at  Gettysburg  and 
Antietam,  and  is  holier  and  nobler  now  because  of  blood  shed  of  both  North 
and  South.  I  want  you  to  know  what  a  great  inheritance  we  have  in  America. 
To  be  sure,  bigness  is  not  greatness.  A  live  dog  may  be  of  more  service  than 
an  elephant.  It  depends  on  the  elephant.  Yet  physical  size  gives  room  for 
opportunity,  and  opportunity  occupied  is  always  greatness.     Our  country  is  not 


Fifteenth  International  Conventio7i.  107 

only  large,  but  good.  What  valleys  are  richer  ?  When  tickled  with  hoes  they 
laugh  into  harvests.  What  mountains  are  more  stored  with  jewels,  and  what 
nobler  streams  spring  from  snowy  heights.''  Our  country  is  God's  great  palace 
for  man.  Walled  in  by  lakes  and  oceans ;  beautified  with  unsurpassed  land- 
scape and  unequalled  waterfalls;  blessed  with  varied,  yet  healthtul,  climate; 
where  is  its  equal .?  Great  States  are  our  flour-bins,  miles  of  anthracite  with 
hills  for  coal-hods,  birds  flying  on  swift  wing,  cattle  fattening  on  prairies,  and 
fish  diving  in  lakes  and  streams.  To  be  sure,  it  is  said  that  New  England  is  a 
little  stony,  but  even  there  you  can  raise  beans  and  brains.  In  the  swamps  of 
the  South  they  raise  cotton  and  cane, — especially  cane.  Heaven's  blessings 
rest  upon  our  nation.  The  Almighty  has  grandly  performed  his  part,  and  man's 
work  alone  is  vile.  Alas,  that  so  many  evils  are  permitted  here  !  The  trouble 
at  the  Garden  of  Eden  was  that  Adam  and  Eve  went  out  and  Satan  stayed  in. 
Here  we  must  stay  in  and  put  Satan  out,  and  we  will  have  paradise  regained. 

What  are  some  of  those  evils  which  threaten  to  spoil  the  Almighty's  design 
in  America.''  What  are  some  of  the  devils  which  Christian  citizenship  should 
cast  out .?  The  first  fiend  which  should  command  our  attention  is  the  saloon. 
What  a  word  that  is!  It  staggers  with  delirium;  it  coils  with  madness;  it 
weeps  dry  tears  of  blight ;  it  trembles  with  life's  saddest  pathos.  The  saloon  is 
the  grindstone  where  the  assassin  whets  his  knife.  It  is  the  malarious  sewer  of 
ulcerous  manhood  and  cancerous  womanhood.  Into  its  till,  along  with  the 
dollars,  fall  the  tears  of  suffering  children  and  the  fading  joys  of  betrayed 
and  broken  womanhood.  O  God !  how  long  this  evil.?  For  money,  the  poor- 
est thing  in  all  the  riches  of  life,  we  are  willing  to  blast  and  blight  and  damn. 
A  saloon  license  is  a  written  permit,  signed  by  our  government,  for  the  saloon 
to  snatch  the  boy  from  his  mother's  arms,  and  send  him,  a  maddened  wreck,  into 
a  drunkard's  grave  ;  it  is  an  agreement  to  steal  the  working  man's  wages,  and, 
pouring  insanity  into  his  brain,  to  call  it  a  recompense;  it  is  an  opportunity  to 
drug  young  women,  and,  breaking  the  moorings  of  virtue,  send  them  adrift  on 
life's  stormiest  sea,  outcasts  from  God  and  man.  The  wild  and  savage  lion 
protects  its  young.  The  buffalo,  stopping  before  the  hunter  with  maddened 
bellow  and  lowered  horn,  will  fight  for  the  weak  and  defenceless.  Not  unfre- 
quently  do  we  know  of  birds  which  died  while  fighting  for  the  nest.  Some  ani- 
mal of  prey  approached  their  young,  and  although  weaponless,  the  bird  began 
fierce  encounter.  Its  piercing  cry  filled  the  air.  With  all  the  strength  of  its 
wings  it  dashed  against  the  foe.  The  feathers  torn  from  its  breast,  with  broken 
wing  and  lifeless  form  it  lies  beneath  the  spoiled  nest  where  once  it  sung  to  its 
young.  What  creature  of  wing  or  fin,  what  beasts  of  tropic  or  frigid  zone, 
would  invite  danger  to  its  offspring?  Yet  we  do  it,  and  for  a  pretence  take 
revenue  to  build  sidewalks  and  public  institutions.  "  O  judgment,  thou  hast 
fled  to  brutish  beasts,  and  men  have  lost  their  reason."  The  Bible  declares 
that  no  drunkard  shall  enter  heaven.  Saloons  are  drunkard  factories.  Their 
product  is  labelled  for  despair.  The  people  make  the  saloon.  By  our  per- 
mission they  continue,  for  were  the  Church  to  unite  its  power  the  last  saloon 
could  be  driven  from  the  land.  O  Church  of  the  living  God,  O  children  of 
heaven's  right  hand,  why  not  cast  out  this  evil.''  Let  the  Christian  Endeavorer 
be  the  uncompromising  foe  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  by  prayer  and  vote  may  we 
destroy  this  mighty  evil  now  entrenched  in  our  land.  The  Bible  says  that  the 
wicked  flee  when  no  one  pursues  them  ;  but,  as  Dr.  Parkhurst  has  aptly  added, 
"  They  make  better  time  when  some  one  is  after  them." 

A  second  great  evil  which  on  account  of  its  direful  effect  may  be  called  a 
devil  is  Sabbath  desecration.  In  history  and  the  Bible  we  read  of  a  holy  day  of 
rest  called  the  Sabbath.  It  is  fast  becoming  a  stranger  to  us.  Into  the  midst 
of  man's  work  and  activity  the  Almighty  placed  a  time  of  quiet  and  joy.  It 
was  a  shaft  of  light  falling  across  life's  rugged  pathway.  Whenever  the  Sab- 
bath has  been  forgotten  the  individual  and  nation  have  suffered.  Now  the 
fourth  commandment  is  rolled  up  into  a  football  and  we  kick  it  about  as  we 
please.  The  holy  day  has  become  a  holiday.  The  Sabbath  should  be  the 
salute  of  the  nation  to  Almighty  God.  Now  we  salute  picnics,  beer-gardens, 
open  theatres,  and  every  sort  of  evil  that  can  creep  or  crawl  or  squirm  into  it. 


108  Official  Report  of  the 

Destroy  the  Sabbath  and  you  abolish  the  Church.  Abolish  the  Church  and 
the  land  is  the  breedinp^-place  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed.  It  will  be  well  for 
us  to  keep  close  to  God's  holy  law,  and  it  is  becoming  in  this  great  Christian 
host  to  set  an  example  of  Sabbath-keeping  that  will  glorify  God  and  tend  to 
perpetuate  the  nation. 

Another  evil  is  found  in  the  power  and  promitiefice  of  wealth.  The  large 
combinations  of  capital,  unless  they  are  wisely  managed  and  unselfishly  con- 
trolled, may  prove  among  the  greatest  of  the  national  perils.  When  God  made 
the  coal,  why  not  sell  it  cheap  enough  so  that  the  poor  may  get  warm  ?  Why 
should  people  go  hungrj?  here  with  our  bountiful  harvests.?  It  may  be  that 
sometime  we  will  learn  that  it  is  still  a  curse  to  corner  the  market  and  raise  the 
price  of  food,  although  the  money  is  given  away  in  a  great  philanthropy.  For 
years  the  Gospel  has  been  given  to  the  poor, —  and  that  is  about  all  we  have  given 
them, —  but  let  it  also  be  preached  to  the  rich.  Jesus  said  that  we  are  to  love  our 
neighbors  as  ourselves.  But  can  that  mean  the  sumptuous  and  wasteful  ban- 
queting of  Dives  while  Lazarus  is  hungry  and  barefoot  at  the  gate  1  Now 
there  are  many  miles  between  the  avenue  and  the  alley,  although  they  are  not 
far  apart.  Now  in  business  life  selfishness  rules,  the  weak  are  ground  and 
broken,  and  principles  unfit  for  savages  are  used  by  Christians.  Christ  said 
that  the  way  to  glory  lay  by  the  cross,  and  one  great  present-day  need  is  to 
interpret  the  laws  of  the  cross  for  the  business  world.  The  trinity  of  commer- 
cial life  is  not  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  Gold  Eagle,  Silver 
Dollar,  and  Copper  Cent.  Christian  citizenship  would  place  Christ  in  the  store 
and  factory,  in  the  market  where  the  poor  try  to  buy,  and  among  the  men  of 
wealth  who  control  the  commercial  interests  of  the  nation. 

When  Charles  Sumner  entered  the  Senate  he  was  told  that  there  was  nothing 
for  him  to  do,  that  the  great  issues  were  all  settled.  His  informant  did  not  know 
the  power  which  lay  in  that  scholarly  mind  from  Massachusetts.  The  negro 
was  a  slave,  and  until  he  was  free  Sumner  was  kept  busy.  Let  us  not  feel  that 
the  great  questions  are  all  settled.  Upon  our  national  sky  are  clouds  as  black 
and  threatening  as  ever  threw  their  shadows  or  rolled  their  thunders  over  a  peo- 
ple. Place  your  ear  to  the  ground  and  you  will  hear  voices  that  bode  no  good 
to  our  country.  Nothing  to  do  with  malignant  evils  about  us?  Have  we  no 
spirit  of  love  1  Can  this  great  Christian  movement  continue  and  not  solve  some 
of  our  national  issues.'*  Apply  its  power  to  the  saloon.  Let  it  stand  for  the  Sab- 
bath. Let  it  apply  the  Gospel,  and  all  of  it,  to  the  life  of  the  nation.  Around 
the  cross,  that  symbol  of  self-sacrificing  love,  let  us  gather,  until  with  it  we  shall 
conquer.  On  my  study  table  I  keep  a  penholder  which  I  cut  from  the  oak  that 
grows  by  the  grave  of  Wendell  Phillips.  He  belonged  to  the  Christian-citi- 
zenship movement  of  the  Christian  Endeavor.  He-said  years  ago,  while  spend- 
ing himself  for  reform,  that  if  we  build  our  institutions  as  high  as  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  yet  use  in  them  unholy  brick,  the  pulse-beat  of  a  child  will  knock 
them  down.  On  this  grandest  land  of  the  hemispheres,  a  land  enriched  with 
the  highest  civilizations  of  the  past,  with  the  priceless  legacy  of  such  names  as 
Washington,  Lincoln,  and  Garfield,  with  its  great  and  invincible  army  of  God- 
fearing youth,  let  us  build  a  nation  that  shall  stand.  Let  it  rest  upon  our  great 
natural  foundation,  and  rising  above  our  battle-fields  and  the  quiet  graves  of 
our  sacred  dead,  let  it  tower  up  in  the  centuries  to  come  as,  free  from  g  eat  evils, 
the  dwelling-place  of  a  happy  people,  and  receiving  the  favor  of  Almighty  God. 

Calvary    Baptist  Church. 

Within  the  brilliantly  lighted  church  which  bears  the  name  of  that 
historic  mount  where  the  Christ  was  crucified  there  gathered  a  host  of 
Christian  Endeavorers  which  filled  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  edifice. 

The  meeting  was  scheduled  to  commence  at  half-past  seven,  but  long 
before  that  hour  the  familiar  hymns  of  the  Endeavorers  were  sung  over 
and  over  again.     The   meeting    adjourned  a  few  minutes  before    ten. 


Fiftcoitli  Litcrnational  Convention.  109 

Mr.  W.  H.  Pennell  presided,  and  introduced  in  a  felicitous  manner  the 
several  speakers.  After  a  praise  service,  the  chorus  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  sang  the  anthem,  and  Rev.  S.  Domer,  of  Washington,  con- 
ducted the  devotional  exercises. 

Miss  Jessie  A.  Ackerman,  of  Chicago,  was  introduced  and  delivered 
the  first  address.  Miss  Ackerman  gave  an  interesting  account  of 
much  that  had  come  before  her  own  eyes  in  her  "  round-the-world  trip." 

She  especially  scored  the  liquor  traffic,  and  pressed  the  responsibility 
of  its  existence  upon  the  "will  of  the  people." 

The  singing  of  another  song  was  followed  by  the  address  of  Rev. 
William  Rader,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Address  of  Rev.  William  Rader,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

In  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  legal 
citizenship  is  thus  defined:  "All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United 
States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  State  wherein  they  reside."  The  possession  of  rights,  moreover,  does 
not  constitute  true  citizenship,  which  properly  assumes  that  a  right  is  only  effi- 
cient when  rightly  used,  and  that  a  man  is  no  more  a  citizen  because  of  the 
constitutional  authority  afforded  him  by  the  Constitution  than  he  is  an  artist 
because  he  owns  the  brush  of  Rubens  or  the  chisel  of  Angelo.  What  are 
known  as  American  rights,  such  as  free  speech  and  political  suffrage,  are  the 
political  instruments  of  Christian  men ;  they  are  not  ends,  but  means  to  an 
end;  they  are  the  instruments  of  political  righteousness,  the  legal  opportunity 
of  a  Christian  man  to  practically  apply  his  Christianity  to  the  State.  Citizen- 
ship, then,  is  more  than  the  political  authority  to  cast  a  ballot;  it  is  the  moral 
ability  to  cast  it  right  in  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  according  to 
the  Christianity  of  Jesus  Christ.  Voting  is  a  Christian  function.  It  has  come 
to  pass  in  our  own  country  that  the  conflict  of  to-morrow  will  not  be  between 
Republican  and  Democrat,  but  between  the  Christian  and  the  unchristian  citi- 
zenship. 

In  the  wide-spread  awakening  now  going  on  in  the|United  States,  the  Chris- 
tian estimate  of  the  State  is  being  recovered. 

The  citizen  is  finding  his  place  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  time  is  passed 
when  it  can  be  said  that  a  man  is  a  good  Christian  and  a  poor  citizen.  The 
two  are  one,  and  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  be  one  without  being  the  other. 
Heresy  is  not  the  adoption  of  a  theological  dogma;  it  is  not  the  doubt  of  the 
Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch;  but  it  is  putting  the  bushel  of  political 
indifference  over  the  candle  of  one's  character  on  election  day. 

Taking  an  interest  in  politics  does  not  mean  that  the  minister  of  the  Gospel 
should  bring  politics  into  the  pulpit,  but  it  does  mean  that  he  should  take  his 
pulpit  into  politics.  It  does  not  mean  that  he  should  bring  politics  into  church, 
but  it  does  mean,  most  emphatically,  that  the  Church  should  be  translated  into 
political  power.  The  call  in  this  revival  is  for  every  citizen  to  be  true  to  his 
civic  obligation.     This  is  applied  Christianity. 

We  have  had  two  revolutions.  Tlie  principle  of  the  first  was  political  inde- 
pendence, and  the  master  spirit  was  Washington.  The  principle  of  the  second 
was  personal  liberty,  and  its  guiding  genius  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  revo- 
lution through  which  we  are  now  passing  combines  these  two  principles  of 
political  independence  and  personal  liberty,  and  the  genius  of  the  movement  is 
no  one  commanding  personality,  but  every  American  citizen  who  has  the  moral 
courage  of  his  convictions,  who  carries  the  principles  of  his  Bible  into  the  Aus- 
tralian ballot  booth,  and  who  is  the  coming  king  in  American  politics.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  the  politician  who  fails  to  count  him  in  his  political  reckon- 
ing will  make  a  serious  mistake  in  his  political  arithmetic. 

Something,  from  present  signs,  it  is  safe  to  predict, — some  things  which  may 


110  Official  Report  of  the 

be  expected  to  occur.  First,  the  passing  of  the  "boss."  The  hierarchy  in 
politics  is  doomed.     We  want  leaders,  but  not  bosses,  in  politics. 

The  overthrow  of  the  king  in  politics  is  as  sure  in  the  future  as  the  over- 
throw of  the  king  is  a  fact  in  history.  He  cannot  stand  before  the  majesty  of 
the  people.  The  man  who  is  in  politics  for  boodle  ought  to  be  kicked  out  foi 
righteousness'  sake. 

Second,  the  faithless  officer,  the  man  who  wears  the  policeman's  star  and 
fails  to  do  duty  for  the  people,  should  be  punished  with  the  same  severity  as 
the  deserter  from  the  army  or  the  traitor  to  his  country.  The  enforcement  of 
law  is  the  weak  point  in  the  political  life  of  our  country. 

Third,  the  saloon  must  go.  Public  sentiment  has  been  hurled  against  it  as 
bird-shot  against  the  Chinese  Wall,  while  the  force  of  the  cannon-ball  has 
hardly  been  felt  in  this  conflict.  There  is  a  passionate  restlessness  among  the 
people  upon  the  temperance  question.  It  is  finding  expression  in  more  inde- 
pendent thinking  and  a  method  of  warfare  of  wider  range  than  those  of  Father 
Matthew,  John  B.  Gough,  and  Francis  Murphy.  The  great  fact  is  plain  that 
in  spite  of  the  ferocity  of  the  legalized  tiger,  roaring  at  will  through  our  streets, 
we  willingly  cut  his  toe-nails,  puncture  his  ears,  pull  his  teeth  or  put  a  costly 
muzzle  in  his  mouth,  stand  in  our  churches  denouncing  him,  without  reaching 
a  conclusion  that  he  deserves  to  die  and  that  the  patriotic,  economic,  and  relig- 
ious thing  would  be  to  shoot  him  dead  7io%v.  For  this,  all  Christian  Endeavor 
and  all  right-minded  citizens  should  strive. 

In  a  day  when  political  parties  are  greedily  looking  for  material  to  appro- 
priate to  their  own  use,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  young  people's  movement 
has  been  led  by  the  spirit  in  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.  Thus 
far  it  has  refused  to  turn  stone  into  bread,  or  to  leap  from  some  pinnacle  to  be 
dashed  to  pieces  below.  It  has  been  conservative,  and  has  succeeded  with 
admirable  good  sense  in  keeping  the  organization  out  of  tlie  cog-wheels  of 
partisan  politics. 

Should  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  go  into  politics.''  Emphatically, 
no.     Should   the    Christian  Endeavorers  go  into  politics.''     Emphatically,  yes. 

Christian  Endeavor  should  come  into  politics  not  as  an  organization,  but  as 
an  influence.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  cannon  to  follow  its  ball.  Christian 
Endeavor  is  democracy. 

In  looking  over  the  history  of  the  young  people's  movement,  it  is  clear  that 
already  it  has  been  a  powerful  force  in  American  politics.  It  is  to-day  a  rein- 
forcement to  good  government  second  to  none  in  the  United  States.  It  may 
be  too  early  to  collect  facts,  but  every  State  in  the  Union  can  testify  to  the 
helpful  influence  of  this  movement  in  the  strife  for  civic  righteousness.  The 
young  people  came  on  the  field  at  a  critical  moment. 

There  was  a  time,  not  long  since,  when  good  men  trembled  throughout  our 
country,  and  this  in  the  face  of  a  hundred  years  of  distinguished  history.  It 
appeared  as  if  the  sacred  and  secular  were  separated,  segregated,  and  entirely 
distinct.  It  appeared  as  though  Christianity  had  lost  its  civic  sense,  but  that 
was  the  hour  preceding  Blucher.  On  the  platform  of  the  International  Conven- 
tion held  in  Montreal,  Dr.  Clark  blew  the  bugle  of  a  ruling  idea,  that  of  Chris- 
tian citizenship,  and  immediately  an  army  of  young  people  stood  ready  to  do  his 
bidding.  That  note,  may  it  be  said,  saved,  in  a  very  great  degree,  the  integrity 
of  American  politics.  That  note  was  the  prophecy  of  the  new  citizenship,  and 
the  Old  Guard  of  New  York  City,  with  Tammany  tiger  on  its  banner,  was  the 
first  to  be  repulsed  and  broken.  Dr.  Parkhurst  and  Theodore  Roosevelt  are 
possible,  very  largely,  because  of  the  reinforcement  afforded  by  the  young 
people's  movement.  Christian  Endeavor  rendered  valuable  assistance  in  clos- 
ing the  Sunday  saloons  in  Philadelphia,  Detroit,  Indianapolis,  and  other  cities 
throughout  the  country.  It  is  one  of  the  potent  factors  supporting  the  Prohi- 
bition law  in  Maine,  and  its  power  to  make  public  opinion  in  all  the  politics 
of  the  nation  has  made  it  respected  by  every  observing  politician  in  the  country. 

How  shall  the  young  people  carry  their  religion  into  life,  and  thus  practise 
what  they  preach  ? 

How  should  Christian  young  people  behave  in  this  great  day  of  opportunity? 


Fifteenth  Litcrnational  Convctition.  Ill 

We  must  be  intelligent.  We  must  acquaint  ourselves  with  political  condi- 
tions by  reading  the  newspapers,  the  study  of  the  best  literature,  and  by  taking 
a  hand  in  the  politics  of  our  own  locality.  We  must  not  sing  of  the  eternal 
streets  of  gold,  and  fail  to  pave  the  streets  of  our  own  town.  The  young  man 
who  knows  more  of  Cuba  than  of  his  own  village,  and  more  of  the  politics  of 
Turkey  than  that  of  his  native  city,  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself.  Christian 
Endeavor  must  carry  its  enthusiasm  into  life. 

The  steam  in  the  cylinder  must  turn  the  wheels  until  they  quiver  with  speed 
and  power. 

Unapplied  steam  may  explode. 

We  must  learn  to  be.  Intensive  development  is  quite  as  important  as  exten- 
sive growth.  Depth  is  as  vital  as  extent.  Current  thought  emphasizes  the 
Altruistic  duty,  but  we  must  never  forget  that  the  condition  of  collective 
morality  is  personal  character.  Being  is  more  than  doing.  The  world  is 
saved,  not  by  what  we  do,  but  by  what  we  are.  We  are  witnesses  to  the  uni- 
versal truth.     We  stand  as  witnessing  sentinels  of  Almighty  God. 

The  flag  testifies.  There  is  no  action  in  that  bunting,  but  a  testimony  which 
gathers  up  the  laistory  and  genius  of  our  government. 

Character  is  the  splendid  sentinel  of  the  nation.  We  need  the  witnessing 
power  in  the  American  pulpit,  men  of  iron,  who  have  the  moral  courage  of  their 
political  convictions.  We  need  men  in  office,  from  policemen  to  mayors,  from 
mayors  to  presidents,  who  dare  stand  square  to  tlieir  political  obligations. 

To  the  Christian  Endeavorer  politics  means  an  instrument  of  righteousness, 
and  party  but  the  scaffolding  around  the  rising  kingdom  of  God.  Politics,  gov- 
ernment, parties,  are  not  ends,  but  means. 

We  must  never  doubt  the  eternal  truth  that  the  secret  of  strength  is  the 
abiding  Christ  of  God. 

Before  we  can  be  great  citizens  we  must  be  great  Christians.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  within  you  ;  and  if  it  is  n't,  it  ought  to  be. 

The  secret  of  strength,  that  secret  which  the  great  souls  of  history  have 
cherished,  is  the  implicit  and  triumphant  confidence  they  had  in  the  co-opera- 
tive help  of  God.  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith  the 
Lord  "  is  the  motto  of  heroic  history  and  the  inscription  written  on  every  ban- 
ner of  power.  The  Psalmist  of  old,  looking  toward  the  eternal  help,  found  it 
when  he  shouted,  "  Let  God  arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be  scattered." 

Cromwell  and  Savonarola,  Garfield  and  our  Lincoln,  caught  the  same  logic  ; 
for  when  our  dead  lay  in  the  unburied  glory  of  their  death,  Lincoln  rose  up 
through  the  clouds  of  war  and  threw  this  truth  on  the  black  clouds  like  a  ray 
of  light :   "  Let  God  arise,  and  let  his  enemies  be  scattered." 

The  last  speaker  was  the  vice-president  of  the  Illinois  Christian 
Endeavor  Union. 

Address  of  Rev.  Millard  F.  Troxell,  D.D.,  Springfield,  III. 

The  ultimate  appeal  as  to  what  is  truth  lies  in  the  life  and  the  word  of  Him 
who  said  to  Pilate  that  he  was  born  to  bear  witness  of  the  truth.  He  was  and 
is  the  teacher  of  governors,  kings,  and  presidents. 

He  drove  out  the  money-changers  and  those  making  of  the  temple  a  place 
of  merchandise  for  their  personal  gain ;  but  that  was  a  proper,  if  violent  and 
forcible,  cleansing  of  that  temple  where  in  a  peculiar  sense  he  had  a  right  to 
rule.  It  stood  for  that  spiritual  kingdom  which  it  had  been  his  special  purpose 
to  set  forward  in  this  wicked  and  inconsistent,  selfish  world.  When  the  proper 
time  and  occasion  demanded,  in  a  way  just  as  sincere,  and  a  word  just  as 
earnest  as  the  word  saying  "  Ye  have  made  of  this  place  of  prayer  a  den  of 
extortion  and  selfish  robbery,"  he  put  the  temporal  and  spiritual  kingdoms  in 
their  proper  places  and  in  their  right  proportions.  He  did  it  at  a  most  critical 
time  for  him  and  his  cause.  It  was  when  the  traps  were  set  and  the  wires  were 
laid  to  catch  him.  The  Pharisees,  the  "holier-than-thou"  party,  and  the 
Herodians,  the  "  anything-for-office "  party,  had  put  him  in  a  position  where 


112  Official  Report  of  the 

it  seemed  certain  that  he  must  eitlier  involve  himself  and  the  claims  of  the  Jews 
for  Messiah  in  ruin,  or  else  prove  disloyal  to  the  Roman  government  of  C^sar, 
so  hateful  to  the  average  orthodox  Jew.  But  at  that  critical  moment,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  spiritual  teacher  and  manly,  loyal  citizen,  arose  not  only  equal  to  the 
occasion,  but  also  forever  joins  the  temporal  and  spiritual  kingdoms,  the  civil 
and  the  theocratic  authorities,  by  giving  each  its  place  in  the  statement, 
"  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's ;  and  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's." 

It  is  God  and  Caesar,  not  God  or  Caesar.  Many  men  think  of  only  one  or 
the  other  of  these  governments  or  sources  of  authority  and  of  power.  Some 
think  of  and  render  willing  obedience  to  the  one  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other — 
or  to  the  other  to  the  exclusion  of  the  one.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  so  many 
States  and  statesmen  have  been  flopping  along  in  history  in  a  zigzag  fashion, 
when  one  wing  or  the  other  has  been  clipped,  shorn, plucked  of  its  power.?  The 
eagle  neither  of  ancient  Roman  nor  of  modern  American  government  can  reach 
its  possible  height  of  vision  and  influence  and  strength  except  by  the  happy 
equipoise  of  duty  and  service  towards  both  the  human  and  divine  standards  of 
obligation. 

There  must  be  a  rendering  to  Caesar  of  that  which  properly  belongs  to 
human  government.  There  must  be  loyalty  to  one's  own  flag  and  one's  own 
country  and  institutions.  Every  one  owes  it  to  the  government  that  has  pro- 
tected him,  aided  him,  instructed  him,  and  developed  him  as  a  citizen,  to  be 
loyal  and  true  as  long  as  he  lives  in  the  country  either  of  his  birth  or  his  sincere 
adoption.  So  a  man  ought  to  be  a  French  Frenchman, an  English  Englishman, 
a  German  German,  or  an  American  American.  So  he  ought  to  respect  the 
law  and  order  of  the  land  in  which  he  lives.  He  ought  both  to  keep  the  laws 
made  by  his  representatives  and  his  government,  and  he  ought  to  do  his  utmost 
to  have  others  keep  them.  Only  in  this  way  can  the  highest  well-being  of  the 
individual,  the  family,  and  society  be  promoted. 

All  our  services  for  God  are  purely  voluntary,  depending  at  last  upon  the 
human  will.  God  requires  of  man  really  nothing  against  his  will.  What  he 
would  require  is  simply  that  a  man  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly 
before  and  with  him.  Human  governments  are  sustained  and  make  progress 
by  taxes  and  tariffs  and  compulsory  revenues,  by  drafts  upon  the  energies 
and  resources  of  the  people.     It  is  not  so  with  God's  government. 

Yet  there  are  certain  relations  to  be  maintained  and  principles  to  be  fixed  in 
one's  life  and  mind  which  bring  together  in  cordial  union  the  necessary  must  of 
human  law  and  government,  and  the  imperative  ougJit  of  the  Divine  Voice.  In 
relation  to  the  State  and  the  duties  of  citizenship  the  choice  should  not  be  made 
as  between  God  and  Cssar,  but  for  both  Cassar  and  God.  Reasons  for  this 
statement  and  position  can  be  given:  (i)  every  life  has  a  relation  to  two 
kingdoms, —  the  earthly  or  social,  and  the  heavenly  or  spiritual ;  (2)  our  obliga- 
tions to  these  two  kingdoms  sometimes  seems  to  interfere  with  and  oppose  each 
other,  but  it  is  only  in  the  seeming  and  ought  not  to  be  so  in  fact;  (3)  this  is 
because  Jesus  Christ,  as  Lord  of  all  worlds,  is  the  only  being  who  can  rightly 
and  authoritatively  define  our  duties  and  relations  to  both  kingdoms  —  and  he 
has  done  so  ;  (4)  the  benefits  which  we  receive  from  the  earthly  kingdom  give 
rise  to  certain  duties  toward  it ;  (5)  our  duties  toward  the  earthly  kingdom  do 
not  lessen  or  put  aside  those  toward  the  heavenly,  and  jZ^(!7-i7?«/;7?;  (6)  while 
the  earthly  relations  are  for  the  highest  well-being  in  this  life,  the  heavenly  are 
for  our  happiness  throughout  eternity  ;  (7)  both  our  condition  and  our  relations 
in  the  world  to  come  will  be  different  from  those  in  the  present  world,  but 
depend  upon  our  lives,  faith,  and  conduct  here. 

And  now  what  can  we  as  young  people  do  and  be,  as  those  who  must  and 
ought  to  render  to  both  God  and  Cssar,  that  is,  to  both  divine  and  human 
government,  a  proper  allegiance .''  Related  to  both  earthly  and  heavenly  powers, 
how  can  we  best  influence  and  deal  with  the  earthly  so  as  to  do  with  it  just 
what  Jesus,  our  one  Master,  would  have  us  do.'' 

I.  In  the  first  place,  we  can  be  intelligently  informed,  so  as  to  know  just 
where  we  stand,  and  why  we  stand  just  where  we  are.     Let  us  not  be  deceived 


Ft  ft  cent  Ji  International  Convention.  113 

by  tlie  cry  of  any  that  we  are  mixing  Church  and  State.  These  two  are  not 
mixed,  nor  can  they  be  in  the  light  of  Jesus'  words  and  example.  They  are 
joined  togetlier  in  phrase,  but  not  mixed  in  either  fancy  or  fact.  Eacli  is  dis- 
tinct. We  have  duties  and  relations  towards  each.  In  the  best  sense  it  pays 
for  each  to  cherish  and  protect  the  other  ;  but  as  organizations,  the  Church  and 
State  are  distinct  and  separate  from  each  other,  and  ought  to  remain  so  for  the 
purest  and  best  progress  of  both.  The  first  duty  of  a  young  Christian  as  a 
citizen  and  would-be  patriot,  as  a  member  of  the  State,  is  to  become  informed 
upon  all  issues  in  order  to  be  an  intelligent  voter. 

It  is  true  it  may  seem  difficult  to  be  intelligent  on  some  questions  that  come 
up  in  politics.  It  may  be  hard  to  understand  all  or  anything  about  the  tariff,  or 
free  trade,  the  gold  standard,  or  sixteen  to  one  in  the  silver  question,  but  it  is 
not  hard  to  find  out  whether  or  not  a  man  running  for  office  is  a  man  of  clean 
life  and  Christian  principle.  An  intelligent  view  of  the  politics  of  the  time 
causes  one  with  open  eyes  and  common  sense  to  see  that  there  are  good  men 
and  selfish  men  in  all  parties. 

It  is  not  judicious  for  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  Christian  Endeavor,  or  any 
branch  or  body  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  to  become  a  political  party  ;  but  it  is 
the  common-sense  thing  to  do  to  take  a  stand  for  the  principles  of  Christ  in  any 
and  every  party  where  a  Christian  may  feel  called  upon  to  serve  his  country,  in 
rendering  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's.  It  took  a  miracle  on  the 
part  of  the  Master,  at  onetime,  to  fulfil  his  obligation  to  the  earthly  govern- 
ment. To  some  of  us  it  may  seem  like  a  miracle  required  of  some  of  our 
friends  to  affiliate  with  this  or  that  political  party  and  yet  be  good,  consistent 
Christians.  But  let  us  give  them  the  same  credit  for  honesty  and  sincerity  of 
purpose  which  we  think  we  possess,  and  which  we  ask  from  others  for  our- 
selves. We  all  need  to  remember,  in  trying  to  perform  our  civic  duties  in 
any  political  party,  George  Herbert's  noble  words  :  — 

"  Next  to  sincerity,  remember  still. 
Thou  must  resolve  upon  integrity. 
God  will  have  a// thou  hast,  —  thy  mind,  thy  will, 
Thy  thoughts,  thy  words,  thy  works." 

2.  Along  with  intelligence  on  all  the  public  and  political  questions,  we  can, 
as  young  people,  hold  to  an  unswerving  and  unfaltering  devotion  to  the  pecu- 
liar principles  of  our  Christian  faith  and  calling.  These  principles  may  all  be 
covered  with  the  three  terms,  so  far  as  civic  relations  are  concerned,  "purity," 
"honesty,"  and  "sobriety."  I  mean  by  these  a  pure  personal  or  home  life,  an 
honest  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  an  unfalteringly  clean  and  consistent 
attitude  against  the  worst  single  enemy  of  the  home,  the  Church,  and  the  coun- 
try, which  is  the  saloon  and  the  drink  devil  of  our  day. 

I  love  the  branch  of  special  work  called  Christian  citizenship  because  it 
stands  for  a  pure  social  and  home  life  as  the  fountain  of  personal  purity  for  the 
stream  of  public  administration. 

Then  it  stands  for  honesty  in  the  administration  of  public  office  as  well.  In 
all  our  cities  and  smaller  communities  the  young  people  can  have  and  ought  to 
have  open  eyes  to  search  out  and  behold,  and  then  clarion  voices  to  brand  the 
bribe-takers  and  al!  who  steal  from  the  public  purse.  How  often  legislation  is 
transformed  into  brokerage!  How  often  votes  are  bought,  sold,  and  intimi- 
dated !  How  often  public  offices  are  made  the  place  of  private  pilfering  instead 
of  being  administered  as  public  trusts  !  The  doctrine  of  Christian  citizenship 
stoutly  maintains  that  whether  the  office  seeks  the  man,  or  the  man  the  office, 
no  man  ought  to  ask  or  expect  the  votes  of  the  people  for  a  second  term  who 
has  not  honestly  and  cleanly  administered  a  first  term ;  and  if  such  a  man  does 
ask  for  office,  every  true  believer  in  Christian  citizenship  will  say,  "You  cannot 
have  my  vote  or  influence."  No  man  ought  to  be  put  forward  or  voted  for 
whose  record  for  honesty  in  money  affairs  and  whose  integrity  of  word  or  oath 
is  in  the  least  tarnished  or  even  suspicious.  We  have  good  men  in  all  our  com- 
munities, men  of  sterling  honesty,  men  of  Christian  character,  who  stand  ready 
to  fill  the  public  offices,  and  who  will  consider  an  office  a  public  trust,  to  be 


114  Official  Report  of  the 

accounted  for  as  conscientiously  as  any  other  matter  of  confidence  and  respon- 
sibility. We  have  it  in  our  power  to  create  a  public  sentiment  favoring  this 
view  of  the  question  concerning  public  office  where  it  may  yet  be  needed.  In 
time  past  there  has  been  so  much  of  corruption  and  dishonesty  and  insincerity 
in  public  administration  that  it  is  wonderful  iiow  kind  providence  lias  been  to 
our  nation  and  communities.  It  has  been  so  remarkable  that  the  observation 
of  the  old  French  abbe  made  some  while  ago  seems  justifiable.  He  said,  "A 
sort  of  special  providence  seems  to  brood  over  little  children,  old  women,  and 
the  people  of  the  United  .States."  Perhaps  he  spake  with  a  little  tinge  of  sar- 
casm, but  none  of  us  can  fail  to  feel  tiiat  we  have  withstood  shocks  that  have 
overthrown  nations  stronger  than  ours. 

I  love  the  branch  of  special  work  called  Christian  citizenship  because  it 
stands  for  an  honest  and  clean  administrating  of  public  trusts.  I  love  it  because 
it  means  to  place  the  principles  of  purity  and  honesty,  of  the  Golden  Rule,  in 
every  one  of  the  thousands  upon  thousands  of  our  oi^ces,  —  from  that  of  presi- 
dent, judge,  and  congressman,  down  to  mayor,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  even 
city  alderman.  I  love  it  because  it  means  to  make  it  the  popular  and  patriotic 
thing  to  put  bad  men  out  of  ofiice,  and  to  keep  them  out,  and  so  to  make  it  the 
popular  and  patriotic  thing  for  good  men,  and  good  men  only,  to  apply  for 
ofiice. 

Lastly,  I  love  the  special  branch  of  our  work  called  Christian  citizenship  be- 
cause it  stands  for  an  unfaltering  opposition  to  the  saloon  and  the  drink  devil. 
It  means  that  the  saloon  must  in  the  end  be  outlawed.  It  means  that  the 
drink  devil  will  be  laid  low.  It  means  that  a  David  has  come  forth  from  the 
camp  of  Israel  to  meet  and  slay  the  boasting  Goliath,  not  with  the  weapons  of 
King  Saul,  but  in  the  name  and  faith  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  It  means  that  the 
banner  of  our  country's  freedom  is  being  lighted  from  above,  that  it  is  being  car- 
ried and  placed  in  the  white  search-light  of  the  fresh  Christian  conscience  of  our 
robust  young  manhood  and  womanhood  of  to-day.  All  hail  this  day  when  the  ra- 
diance of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  made  beautiful  by  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness, is  being  cast  all  about  the  red,  white,  and  blue  symbol  of  our  coun- 
try's freedom.  The  saloon  and  whiskey  traffic,  the  drink  devil,  all  foes  of  our 
homes,  of  our  best  institutions,  the  Church,  and  the  Sabbath,  are  to-day  marked 
as  the  foes  not  only  of  God  and  his  people,  but  also  as  a  combined  force  plot- 
ting against  Cassar,  all  that  stands  for  a  just  and  equable  government.  In  the 
saloon  the  worst  things  of  our  civilization  are  found.  From  it  flow  our  most 
poisonous  sewers,  breeding  disease  and  causing  death.  The  saloon  sewer 
makes  men  insane,  criminal,  debauched,  licentious,  domineering,  selfish,  brutal. 

Knowing  this,  what  can  be  clearer  than  that  we  young  Christians,  and  that  all 
Christians  and  all  good  people,  should  press  the  principles  and  power  of  our 
holy  religion  into  every  avenue  of  life,  into  court-house  and  council-chamber,  in- 
to legislatures  and  governors'  offices,  into  Congress  and  the  White  House,  until 
the  law  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  law  of  love,  duty,  and  service,  to  God  and  Caesar,  to 
the  Church  and  to  the  State,  shall  be  the  law  of  every  Christian  and  of  every 
citizen;  until  this  our  high  ideal  shall  be  pushed  on  to  the  very  ramparts  of 
victory  ?     From  this  position  and  this  standard  let  us  know  no  retreat. 

Foundry  flethodist  Episcopal  Church, 

At  the  old  and  historic  Foundry  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  there 
was  a  well-attended  meeting,  and  those  who  came  were  rewarded  by 
excellent  addresses.  The  music  was  well  rendered  by  the  Endeavor 
choir,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  J.  A.  Rose.  The  meeting  was  opened 
with  a  praise  service  and  anthem,  followed  by  devotional  exercises 
conducted  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Anderson,  of  Washington. 

Then  the  presiding  ofificer,  the  Rev.  H.  F.  Shupe,  of  Dayton,  O., 
introduced  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening,  Rev.  H.  K.  Carroll,  LL.D., 
of  New  York  City,  edit6r  of  llie  Indcpe7ident. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  115 

Address  of  Rev.  H.  K.  Carroll,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  York  City. 

I  want  to  take  as  my  text  on  this  occasion  a  single  sentence  from  the  last 
Episcopal  address  of  the  Methodist  Bishops.  It  is  this:  "A  man  may  be  as 
much  a  missionary  of  God  in  the  politics  of  America  as  in  the  forests  of  Africa." 

Tliis  1  hold  to  be  good  gospel.  If  the  religion  of  Christ  is  anything  it  is 
everything.  It  is  not  given  from  above  simply  for  delightful  meditation  on 
quiet  Sundays,  or  exhibition  in  churcli  or  prayer  meeting;  it  is  not  alone  a  balm 
for  sorrow,  or  a  cordial  for  approaching  death;  it  is  a  mighty,  intellectual, 
moral,  reformatory,  and  spiritual  force,  applicable  to  every  problem  and  exi- 
gency of  life.  It  is  intended  to  be  established  in  the  heart  of  man,  that  from 
the  citadel  of  his  being  it  may  command  every  thought,  control  every  impulse, 
suggest  every  word,  and  inspire  every  deed.  It  is  meant  to  be,  and  is  capable 
of  being,  the  all-in-all  of  every  life. 

We  must  get  away  from  the  thought  that  religion  is  something  which  we  put 
on,  like  a  coat  or  dress,  for  special  occasions.  If  it  is  something  to  be  put  on, 
it  is  something  to  be  put  off.  Our  pulpits  tell  us  often  enough  that  we  must 
not  be  Sunday  Christians  merely,  but  every-day  Christians ;  but  we  retain  much 
of  the  leaven  of  an  old  and  slowly  passing  heresy.  We  have  not  only  our  relig- 
ious days  and  seasons,  our  religious  manners  and  garments,  but  we  are  still  in 
the  habit  of  dividing  our  lives  into  several  distinct  parts,  each  with  a  different 
label.  Part  of  our  life  we  devote  to  Bible-reading,  prayer,  meditation,  and 
religious  work,  and  we  are  conscientious  enough  to  make  it  a  generous  part 
and  to  reserve  it  religiously,  not  allowing  other  concerns  to  intrude  and  inter- 
rupt. Six  days  in  the  week  we  give  to  business,  and  count  it  a  distinct  part  of 
our  life.  Another  part  is  made  up  of  recreation,  pursuit  of  pleasure  in  many 
forms,  public  duties,  and  the  like.  Here  are  three  divisions,  and  it  is  idle  to 
deny  that  they  are  more  or  less  separate  in  our  thought,  our  plans,  and  our 
purposes.  What  we  do  for  the  Lord  we  do  in  a  religious  spirit;  what  we  do  in 
business  we  do  with  all  our  might,  having  the  single  object,  success,  constantly 
before  our  eyes;  in  our  pleasures  the  engrossing  thought  is  to  get  as  much  out 
of  tiiem  as  possible.  It  is  all  right  to  keep  busine.ss  out  of  pleasure;  but  relig- 
ion ought  never  to  be  out  of  place.  And  yet  is  it  noX.'i  If  I  were  to  question 
the  average  church-member  I  believe  the  answers  I  would  get  would  run  some- 
what as  follows : — 

"  Do  you  consciously  serve  the  Lord  when  you  are  at  your  prayers,  your 
Bible-reading,  your  place  in  church,  your  religious  work  ?" 

The  answer  would  come  quickly  and  confidently : 

"  Yes,  of  course  I  do." 

"  Do  you  consciously  serve  the  Lord  when  you  are  pushing  your  business 
interests,  trying  to  make  money .''  " 

The  answer  would  come  slowly  and  with  obvious  doubt: 

"Well,  I  don't  know;  I  am  not  ciuite  sure.  In  business  in  these  days  you 
have  got  to  do  as  others  do,  or  you  will  fail.  You  cannot  be  over-particular  as 
to  methods.  You  must  follow  the  customs  of  business  life,  or  make  up  your 
mind  to  drop  out  of  the  race.  I  try  to  be  honest;  but  I  have  to  do  some  things 
which  I  would  rather  not  do.  Still,  I  keep  up  my  church  work;  I  give  lil^erally 
for  the  support  of  religious  enterprises;  I  bring  up  my  family  in  Sunday  school 
and  church,  and  I  always  have  family  prayers.  I  guess  I  am  a  pretty  good 
sort  of  Christian,  after  all  —  as  good  as  the  great  majority  of  church-members." 

And  now  for  the  third  question : 

"  Do  you  serve  the  Lord  when  you  are  pleasure-seeking  and  in  your  public 
duties? " 

The  answer  would  come,  after  great  hesitation: 

"This  is  pretty  sharp  cross-questioning.  You  cannot  be  expected  always  to 
have  the  Bible  on  your  lap.  You  cannot  go  to  church  seven  days  in  the  week. 
A  man  cannot  always  have  his  thoughts  on  dying  and  the  resurrection  and 
heaven.  One  who  constantly  studies  the  words  on  tombstones,  '  Prepare  to 
meet  thy  God,'  will  be  too  gloomy  to  enjoy  life.  When  you  are  on  pleasure 
bent  you  must  give  yourself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  hour.    As  to  public 


116  Official  Report  of  the 

duties,  what  liave  a  political  caucus  and  church  in  common  ?  A  man  hunting 
for  votes  cannot  be  expected  to  proceed  as  an  evangelist  hunting  for  souls. 
Everything  in  its  place,  1  say.  Religion  is  religion,  business  is  business,  pleas- 
ure is  pleasure,  politics  are  politics.  You  cannot  mix  church  and  caucus,  or 
religion  and  business,  or  piety  and  pleasure,  any  more  than  you  can  mix  oil  and 
water." 

I  think  the  average  church-member  would  answer  these  questions  in  about 
the  way  1  have  indicated.  You  will  observe  that  a  distinction  is  clearly  made 
between  work  for  the  Church  and  work  for  the  family  or  the  State.  One  is 
regarded  as  purely  religious,  the  other  as  purely  secular.  And  many  think  that 
religion  has  a  sphere  of  its  own,  and  that  it  must  be  confined  to  that  sphere,  as 
though  the  sun  should  not  Ifood  the  earth,  the  moon,  and  the  universe  with  his 
light!  When  we  speak  about  the  members  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
becoming  interested  in  civil  affairs,  it  is  as  though  we  proclaimed  some  great 
heresy.  "What!  carry  religion  into  politics.''  The  next  thing  will  be  to  carry 
politics  into  religion!"  And  the  way  this  is  said  shows  that  those  who  say  it 
believe  it  to  be  the  reductio  ad  absiirdttui,  that  it  would  bring  ruin  dire  upon 
the  Church,  and  that  to  dip  the  Church  into  the  dirty  pool  of  politics  would 
be  a  baptism  of  the  devil. 

The  best  way  to  answer  those  who  are  so  zealous  for  the  Church  and  fear 
that  it  will  be  contaminated  if  brought  into  close  relations  with  all  the  concerns 
of  life,  is  to  study  Christ's  life  and  see  what  his  method  was.  Of  course  Christ 
was  religious,  and  no  one  questions  the  wisdom  and  righteousness  of  anything 
he  did.  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business.''  "  What  was 
this  business?  We  say  that  it  was  to  preach  and  teach,  to  reveal  the  gracious 
purpose  of  the  Father,  live  a  perfectly  holy  life,  and  be  offered  in  sacrifice  for 
the  sins  of  the  world.  But  after  that  memorable  conversation,  Christ  returned 
with  his  parents  and  became  a  carpenter.  He  worked  at  Joseph's  trade.  He 
had  his  living  to  earn,  and  he  earned  it.  Before  he  began  his  public  ministry 
was  he  a  carpenter  and  a  devout  Jew,  or  was  he  a  devout  Jewish  carpenter? 
Did  he  carry  religion  into  his  business,  or  did  he  try  to  separate  the  two  ?  _  Was 
not  his  religion  as  characteristic  of  him  as  his  manhood,  and  as  indelible  in  the 
lines  of  his  life  as  his  Jewish  lineage?  I  can  not  imagine  that  he  was  any  the 
less  engaged  in  his  Father's  business  when  he  was  handling  the  saw  and  the 
plane  than  when  he  went  into  the  Temple  on  the  Sabbath.  I  can  not  imagine 
that  he  ever  held  that  a  carpenter  must  suspend  his  religious  obligations  while 
engaged  in  his  trade.  When  he  began  his  public  ministry  he  did  not  confine 
his  religious  teaching  to  the  Sabbath,  nor  to  the  Synagogue;  nor  did  he  cease  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  business  affairs  of  others.  We  do  not  learn  that  his  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  was  a  Sabbath  sermon.  He  did  not  refuse  to  teach  great 
spiritual  lessons  on  working-days,  and  some  of  his  most  effective  teachings 
were  drawn  from  events  in  the  "secular"  world,  as  we  sometimes  call  it.  On 
more  than  one  occasion  he  was  with  his  disciples  when  they  were  fishing,  and 
he  did  not  seem  to  think  that  it  would  be  incongruous  to  mix  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  with  the  fish  of  the  nets. 

A  little  girl  who  was  about  to  leave  New  Jersey  for  a  summer  vacation  in 
New  England  said  in  her  prayer  the  night  before  the  journey,  "Good-by, 
God,  I  'se  going  to  Maine."  That  is  what  many  men  and  women  practically 
say  when  they  propose  to  do  anything  not  definitely  religious.  They  believe 
that  God  and  business,  God  and  politics,  and  God  and  pleasure  are,  and  must 
be,  divorced.  This  is  why  the  business  operations  of  Christian  men  are  so 
often  in  violation  of  the  Decalogue ;  why  politics  appear  to  many  to  be  so  god- 
less; why  pleasure  is  so  worldly  and  anti-spiritual.  They  say  you  must  not 
drag  business,  or  politics,  or  amusements,  into  religion,  because  they  will 
degrade  it;  nor  religion  into  these  secular  concerns,  because  it  is  unseemly, 
incongruous,  out  of  place.  At  a  great  political  convention,  some  years  ago,  a 
gentleman,  recently  a  candidate  for  a  high  office,  apologized  to  me  for  not  in- 
troducing a  man  who  interrupted  our  conversation  a  moment.  "That  man," 
he  said,  "  is  the  notorious  Blank,  of  Blank  City.  He  is  not  the  kind  of  person 
one  likes  to  present  to  gentlemen ;  but  he  is  very  necessary  and  useful  to  the 


FiftecntJi  International  Convention.  117 

party.  He  does  for  us  a  peculiar  kind  of  work  which  others  could  not  and 
would  not  do."  This  is  godless  politics.  This  is  the  result  of  drawing  a  line 
between  a  man's  duties  to  religion  and  his  duties  to  the  State,  allowing  God  to 
rule  over  the  one  and  the  devil  to  claim  the  other.  Some  Christians  are  hor- 
ror-struck at  the  idea  of  associating  politics  and  religion.  Politics  are  such  a 
wicked  business,  so  defiled,  so  degrading,  that  good  men  must  have  nothing  to 
do  with  them.  They  are  not  always  and  everywhere  so  bad  ;  but  why  are  they 
ever  bad.''  The  answer  is  easy  to  find.  Take  the  light  out  of  this  room  and 
darkness  becomes  supreme.  To  banish  the  darkness,  you  have  only  to  bring 
back  the  light. 

The  great  need  of  the  world  is  that  God  should  be  everywhere  and  constantly 
present.  We  want  God  in  our  business  as  well  as  in  our  churches;  in  our 
amusements  as  well  as  in  our  devotions;  in  our  politics  most  of  all.  What  are 
politics.'*  In  the  language  of  President  Hitchcock,  politics  are  "the  principles 
by  which  nations  should  be  governed  and  regulated,"  and  are  "only  a  branch 
of  ethics,"  or  rather  "a  special  application  of  the  principles  of  morality  and 
religion."  It  is  a  fair  field  for  Christian  Endeavor;  and  I  believe  that  any  En- 
deavorer  may  be  as  much  a  missionary  of  God  in  American  politics  as  in  the 
forests  of  Africa.  He  should  go  to  the  primary,  the  polls,  or  the  political  con- 
vention as  regularly,  as  religiously,  as  he  goes  to  church  or  to  conference  or  to 
prayer  meeting.  Let  us  all  be  not  only  Christians,  but  citizens  ;  not  Christians 
in  the  church  and  citizens  out  of  it,  but  always  Christians,  always  citizens, — 
citizen  Christians,  Christian  citizens ;  then  will  love  to  God  and  love  to  men 
and  love  to  country  flow  pure  and  strong  and  free  from  the  same  heart. 

At  this  point  Miss  Florence  McNally  sang  a  contralto  solo  very 
pleasingly.  Owing  to  the  illness  of  Bishop  Abram  Grant,  D.D.,  of 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  Bishop  W.  B.  Derrick,  of  Nevir  York  City,  spoke  in  his 
stead. 

Address  of  Bishop  W.  B.  Derrick,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

To-night  we  say  we  are  pleased  to  be  present  as  Christian  citizens,  not 
simply  as  good  citizens.  A  man  could  be  and  can  be  a  good  citizen  and  a 
moral  man,  and  yet  not  a  Christian  citizen.  Christian  citizenship  is  the  most 
exalted  of  all  citizenship,  but  no  man  can  be  a  Christian  citizen  unless  he  is  a 
good  citizen.  He  must  be  a  good  citizen;  good,  not  simply  to  receive  the 
plaudits  and  praisings  of  men,  but  good  because  it  is  good  to  be  good;  and 
then,  by  being  agood  citizen,  in  all  that  the  word  "  good"  implies.—  respectable, 
intelligent,  and  moral, —  accepting  the  truth  as  in  Christ  Jesus.  He  is  then  trans- 
formed from  being  good  to  Christian  citizenship,  with  a  title  not  to  earthly 
inheritance,  but  to  that  inheritance  which  is  incorruptible,  undefiled ;  that  which 
shall  never  fade  away.  To-night,  it  is  to  that  I  would  call  your  attention  ;  but 
I  repeat  that  before  any  professing  Christian,  before  any  church  membership, 
before  any  church  organization,  can  consistently  claim  to  be  citizens  of  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel,  they  must  be  completely  stripped  of  all  the  nonsen- 
sical prejudices,  and  recognize  the  man,  whether  he  is  dressed  in  yellow  or  in 
black  or  in  white  or  in  red,  so  he  can  testify  to  the  fact  that  he  is  a  Christian 
and  that  he  understands  the  workings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  heart.  We 
say,  Mr.  President,  as  a  portion  of  the  Christian  family  standing  here 
to-night,  as  men  dressed  perhaps  in  a  different  hue,  we  belong  to  that  species 
of  men  in  the  Church  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  who  would  not 
dare  to  place  manhood  or  womanhood  simply  upon  race  or  color;  but  we  place 
Christian  citizenship  upon  Christian  character.  God  looks  not  at  the  outward 
appearance,  but  he  looks  at  the  heart;  and  the  man  whose  heart  has  been  thor- 
oughly cleansed,  the  man  whose  heart  has  been  washed  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  whose  heart  is  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel  of  God,  that 
man  who  can  testify  that  God  is  the  Creator,  Christ  the  Redeemer,  and  man  the 
brother,  that  man  is  suited  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  commonwealth  of  Israel. 

The  good  brother,  in  introducing  me,  said  that  we  represented  the  Afro- 


118  Official  Report  of  the 

American  Societies,  and  they  were  glad  to  hear  us  talk  on  this  subject.  Let 
me  tell  you  to-night,  as  to  good  citizenship  of  America,  that  there  is  no  class  of 
people  in  America  which  is  more  humane  in  the  exercise  of  good  citizenship 
than  the  people  whom  I  represent  to-night.  So  we  come  to  you  to-night  with 
implicit  confidence  in  approaching  this  question  of  Christian  citizenship,  and 
we  are  proud  and  we  are  glad  to  know  that  we  can  stand  as  equals  before 
the  bar  of  eternal  justice.  In  this  world  citizenship  may  be  thwarted;  the 
judges  upon  the  Supreme  Court  bench  may  pass  an  adverse  decision,  saying 
that  a  citizen  is  entitled  to  certain  rights;  but  regardless  of  all  their  biased  and 
prejudicial  decisions,  we  are  marching  to  a  bar  where  the  Judge  of  all  judges 
will  declare  that  "  none  but  the  pure  in  heart  shall  stand  before  me  and  enjoy 
the  happiness  of  my  upper  sanctuary." 

It  ought  to  be  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle  to  bring  instruction  concerning 
Christian  citizenship  to  the  capital  of  the  nation.  But  if  one  may  carry  live 
coals  to  Newcastle,  he  may  at  least  set  a  fire.  Sir  Philip  Sidney  once  said  to 
his  brother,  "  Whenever  you  hear  of  a  good  war,  you  go  to  it."  To  hear  of  a 
good  war  and  not  go  to  it  is  something  very  difficult  to  a  good  man.  Now  a 
good  war  is  not  a  war  of  bloodshed  ;  such  a  war  is  a  weapon,  an  erudite  weapon, 
of  a  rude  people  in  a  rude  age.  It  will  be  abandoned  ;  it  must  be  put  away  ;  it 
is  already  an  antiquated  thing.  It  is  both  a  mode  and  a  measure  of  Paganism ; 
it  settles  nothing  and  never  did  settle  anything.  In  making  these  seemingly 
startling  statements,  I  am  met  by  the  whole  course  of  human  history,  and  I 
must  therefore  convince  you  that  the  work  of  this  world  very  largely  has  been 
a  failure,  that  it  will  have  to  be  done  over  again,  for  since  the  world  began  the 
classes  have  been  set  over  against  the  masses.  This  has  occasioned  strife, 
embittered  feeling;  it  has  waged  war.  The  history  of  the  world  has  been  only 
a  history  of  battles,  and  there  have  been  only  three  things  for  which  the  world 
has  fought.  From  the  very  beginning  it  has  been  the  rule  for  the  stronger  to 
prey  on  the  weaker;  second,  so  much  like  it  as  to  be  akin  to  it,  extension  of 
territory;  and,  lastly,  only  another  name  for  it,  balance  of  power.  That  is  the 
history  of  the  world.  It  has  been  a  system  of  competition  on  the  one  hand  ;  it 
has  been  a  condition  of  lord  and  master,  servant  and  slave,  on  the  other.  But 
you  and  1  live  in  a  new  era,  under  a  revolution.  The  American  Republic  \yas 
in  itself  the  projection  of  a  good  war,  but  it  was  a  war  of  a  very  different  kind 
and  for  a  very  different  purpose.  Alexander,  and  Caesar,  and  Hannibal,  and 
Napoleon  were  the  soldiers  of  the  first  war;  Paul,  and  Luther,  and  Wesley,  and 
Edwards,  of  the  second  war.  The  American  people  expected  every  citizen  to 
be  a  soldier.  It  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  We  are  glad  to  know  to-night 
that  the  history  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  has  been  the  history  of  a  con- 
tinuous war.  The  citizens  of  the  new  country  have  been  a  standing  army,  and 
the  nation's  progress  has  been  signally  a  series  of  voluntary  surrender  after  the 
battles  were  over.  The  new  kingdom  is  one  of  Christianity,  I  say;  it  is  not  lim- 
ited in  its  movements  by  the  Church  ;  it  has  gotten  out  of  doors  and  is  in  the 
wide,  open  air.  This  is  the  first  Christian  century  since  Jesus  died.  There  has 
been  something  of  Christianity  in  all  centuries,  but  this  century  is  the  century 
of  humanity  as  well  as  the  divine  teachings  of  the  Gospel.  Commerce  is  coming 
to  be  Christian;  society  cannot  avoid  being  Christian;  and  the  State,  turn  and 
twist  as  it  may,  submits  to  the  will  of  the  Christian  people.  There  is  no  longer  dis- 
tinction between  personal  and  political  relations,  private  and  public  duties.  _  My 
brother  was  right  when  he  said  your  Christianity  must  go  into  your  politics. 
The  Bishop  of  Cologne  was  heard  swearing  by  one  of  his  parishioners,  who 
held  up  his  hands  in  holy  horror  to  hear  a  bishop  swear.  The  Bishop  apolo^ 
gized,  however,  by  saying  that  he  did  not  swear  as  a  bishop,  that  he  swore  as  a 
man.  "  Yes,"  said  the  parishioner,  "  but  what  will  become  of  the  Bishop  when 
the  man  goes  to  the  devil  for  his  swearing?"  There  is  no  distinction  between 
private  and  public  duties  in  a  Christian  State.  The  Christian  man  must  be  tht 
Christian  citizen.  The  public  policy,  no  less  than  the  private  character,  demands, 
it.  Christianity  is  everywhere.  It  will  not  do  for  a  man  to  serve  a  Christian 
State,  therefore,  who  is  not  a  Christian.  Christianity  is  in  the  ground  ;  you  can 
not  bury  it.     It  is  in  the  water ;  you  can  not  drown  it.     It  is  in  the  fire ;  you  can 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  119 

not  burn  it.  It  is  in  the  air ;  you  must  breathe  it.  We  are  a  Christian  people. 
Why  is  it  that  you  discuss  a  question  in  tliis  country  that  has  cost  us  more  than 
a  hundred  times  what  we  have  expended  for  Christian  missions.''  Why  is  it 
that  you  here  to-night  frankly  discuss  a  question  that  involves  the  ill  or  weal  of 
every  liome  within  this  district,  and  reaches  out  from  this  capital  to  every  cor- 
ner of  the  nation.?  You  might  burn  down  this  church  and  every  other  in  every 
other  city,  and  take  the  income  of  the  liquor  traffic  for  one  single  year  in  the 
business  itself,  and  rebuild  every  structure  that  has  been  destroyed,  and  supply 
every  pulpit  and  pay  the  salaries  of  all  the  preachers.  It  is  a  proper  question 
for  us  to  discuss,  when  the  State  is  involved;  and  you  cannot  discuss  a  question 
to-day  in  a  Christian  State  where  this  question  is  not  involved.  Here  is  a  great 
party,  of  which  I  have  been  so  warm  an  advocate,  because  a  soldier  carrying  a 
gun,  and  a  stalwart  one.  I  came'home  with  my  own  present  feelings,  which  are 
that  it  has  been  difficult  for  me  to  ever  utter  a  criticism  of  the  political  party  to 
which  I  belonged,  and  yet  it  can  adopt  a  platform  of  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
one  lines,  and  on  this  platform  that  involves  more  than  any  one  platform,  in- 
cluding the  currency,  the  tariff,  and  all  the  other  questions  before  the  public 
to-day,  this  party  can  sum  up  its  principles  in  such  ambiguous  language  as  to 
give  all  sides  to  the  controversy  an  opportunity  to  follow  and  vote  its  ticket. 
Here  we  are  to-night,  face  to  face  with  the  problem  that  we  do  not  know  what 
to  do  with  politically.  When  I  say  to  you  that  the  taxes  in  the  State  of  Ohio 
(from  which  I  came)  on  the  liquor  traffic  last  year  were  $5,000,000,  and  that  they 
say  they  dare  not  give  up  this  $5,000,000  of  taxes,  I  simply  tell  what  every  man 
in  that  State  knows,  —  that  $30,000,000  are  involved  in  the  business,  with 
$30,000,000  more  to  some  way  or  another  offset  the  ravages  of  the  same 
business.  I  spoke  in  Denver,  in  my  own  State,  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  before  I 
entered  that  large  hall  where  we  had  been  invited  to  speak  on  this  particular 
topic,  I  met  a  man  at  the  door,  and  I  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  what  would  be  the 
argument  that  would  be  urged  in  this  town  against  the  preservation  of  the 
liquor  traffic  in  this  town  ?  "  He  said,  "  You  forget,  sir,  that  up  on  that  hill  we 
have  a  building  here  that  furnishes  almost  all  the  business  of  the  town,  in  which 
there  are  almost  a  thousand  inmates."  When  I  went  inside  I  inquired  what 
the  building  was.  I  found  that  it  was  an  asylum  for  the  insane,  and  when  I 
went  up  to  look  into  the  business  of  that  institution  I  found  that  more  than  800 
of  the  1,000  inmates  were  brought  there  through  the  use  of  strong  drink.  I 
might  traverse  the  country,  and  find  that  similar  institutions  for  the  feeble- 
minded had  in  a  majority  of  cases  been  filled  from  this  same  source.  Yet, 
to-day  it  is  a  difficult  matter  in  most  of  our  Christian  churches  to  get  an  expres- 
sion of  political  opinion  concerning  what  we  must  do  with  this  question. 
"  License  it,"  says  one  man.  Would  you  license  murder.?  Yet  there  is  murder. 
Would  you  license  stealing.?  Yet  there  are  thieives.  Yet  there  is  scarcely  a 
man  who  drinks  to  excess  who  at  some  time  or  other  would  not  steal. 

Now  any  system  of  legislation  that  assumes  to  deal  with  these  matters  after 
a  principle  that  is  involved  in  all  our  personal  relations  to  the  Church,  any  prin- 
ciple of  political  legislation  that  involves  the  Christian  character  of  the  nation, 
that  every  moment  stirs  one's  soul  concerning  the  questions  of  Christian  citizen- 
ship in  such  a  way  as  to  even  put\the  churches  upon  a  doubtful  issue, — I  am 
hereto  say  that  there  is  for  .this  and  all  other  questions,  where  it  may  mean 
some  pandering  to  appetite,  some  threatening  danger  to  the  home  or  to  the  life 
of  the  state  and  the  nation,  but  one  Christian  way  in  which  we  can 
deal  with  all  wrong;  and  the  man,  like  Abou  Ben  Adhem,  whose  tribe  would 
increase  must  write  his  name  as  the  friend  and  lover  of  his  fellow  man,  and  to 
do  this  must  involve  some  thought  of  some  keeper  that  like  a  brother  would 
care  for  his  fellow  man.  We  unveiled  the  other  day  in  Boston  a  statue  to  a 
man  who  made  his  reputation  on  these  lines.  If  I  could  fasten  them  in  your 
memory,  I  would  fasten  the  key  not  only  of  the  relationship  of  brother  to 
brother,  but  of  Christian  citizenship  upon  the  Christian  as  well  as  the  Christian 
legislator. 

"  '  What  is  the  real  good? ' 
I  asked  in  musing  mood. 
'  Order,'  said  the  law  court ; 


120  Official  Report  of  tJie 

'  Truth,'  said  the  wise  man ; 
'  Pleasure,'  said  the  fool ; 
'  Love,' said  the  maiden ; 
'  Beauty,' said  the  page; 
'  Freedom,'  said  the  dreamer; 
'  Home,'  said  the  sage ; 
'Fame,'  said  the  soldier; 
'  Equity,' the  seer  ;— 

Spake  my  heart,  all  sadly: 
'  The  answer  is  not  here.' 

Then  within  my  bosom 

Softly  this  1  heard  : 
'  Each  heart  holds  the  secret ; 

Kindness  is  the  word.'  " 

First  Presbyterian  Ctiurcli. 

It  seemed  particularly  appropriate  that  one  of  the  five  large  meet- 
ings should  be  assigned  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
Rev.  Dr.  Byron  Sunderland  is  pastor,  and  that  the  topic  should  be  "Chris- 
tian Citizenship,'"  the  one  question  of  all  others  in  which  Dr.  Sunder- 
land is  most  interested,  and  for  which  he  is  known  all  over  the  land 
for  his  connection  with  it.  A  section  of  the  large  Convention  choir 
was  present  and  rendered  the  first  number  of  the  programme,  a  praise 
service,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Russell  Barnes,  of  this  city.  Rev. 
William  Patterson,  of  Toronto,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  United 
Society,  presided.  Preceding  the  principal  features  of  the  programme. 
Rev.  W.  J.  Howard  made  the  opening  prayer. 

The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  Franklin  Hamilton,  of  Newtonville, 
Mass. 

Address  of  Rev.  Franklin  Hamilton,  Newtonville,  Mass. 

When  the  Continental  Congress  laid  down  the  proposition  that  all  men  are 
created  free  and  equal  and  endowed  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among 
which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  "men,  under  the  spell  of 
that  call,  started  out  of  their  lethargy  like  exiles  from  their  childhood  who  hear 
again  the  dimly  remembered  accents  of  their  mother-tongue."  Patriots  in 
other  countries  had  had  for  their  object  privilege  or  power.  The  American 
patriot  fought  for  a  new  commonwealth.    The  weal  of  one  is  the  weal  of  all. 

In  that  proposition  the  struggling  thought  of  ages  came  to  utterance.  In  it 
seemed  to  be  born  again  "  the  doctrine  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  once  entrusted 
to  the  Jewish  people."  In  it  were  concentrated  all  the  earlier  struggles  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  For  it  was,  as  our  own  poet  says,  "the  drums  of  Naseby 
and  Dunbar  that  gathered  the  minutemen  on  Lexington  Common.  It  was  the 
red  dint  of  the  axe  in  Charles's  block  that  marked  one  in  our  era."  In  obedi- 
ence to  that  call  Faneuil  Hall  threw  open  its  doors  to  an  eloquent  patriotism. 
The  nation  rocked  to  the  utterances  of  a  Patrick  Henry,  an  Otis,  a  Warren,  a 
John  Hancock,  a  Ouincy,  and  an  Adams.  In  answer  to  that  summons  on 
Bunker  Hill  and  Concord  bridge, 

"  The  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

The  second  great  patriotic  movement  occurred  when  the  slaveholder  sought 
to  divide  the  Union.  Then  was  witnessed  the  grandest  scene  of  history.  Then 
it  was  the  whole  world  was  moved  by  the  very  pathos  of  American  patriotism. 
The  homes  of  the  people  were  turned  into  arsenals  of  war.  What  was  written 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  in  their  crusades  could  be  said  of  the  multitudes,  all 
unknown  and  unheard  of  before,  —  "  In  the  forefront  of  every  battle  was  seen 
their  burnished  mail,  and  in  the  gloomy  rear  of  every  retreat  was  heard  their 
voice  of  conscience  and  of  courage." 

Suppose  the  spirit  of  our  country  could  stand  before  us  on  this  platform  to- 


FifttoitJi  bitcrnational  Convention.  121 

day,  and  say,  "  Come  up  here  and  lay  down  for  me  your  life  ;"  how  many  do  you 
think  would  obey  that  summons  ?  Yet  nearly  two  millions  of  our  bravest  and  our 
best  did  that,  —  gave  themselves,  at  their  country's  call,  to  flying  bullets  and  to 
flashing  steel ;  and,  to-day,  they  sleep  where  they  fell,  on  every  field  of  the 
South.  Their  bones  are  whitening  on  every  hillside.  Unknown,  unmarked, 
they  lie  hard  by  some  lonely  brook,  where,  all  unnoticed,  the  pacing  sentinel 
fell ;  or  in  some  forest  glen  where  only  the  soughing  winds  know  the  resting- 
place. 

That  hour  is  past.  The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  is  a  vanishing  army; 
their  work  is  done.  I  believe,  with  the  poet,  that  some  sweet  bird  of  the  South 
shall  build  her  nest  in  every  rusting  cannon's  mouth  ;  that  the  note  of  the 
bluebird  will  be  the  only  sound  that  shall  be  heard  from  the  iron  throat  of 
these  instruments  of  death.  I  believe  that  "  never  again  in  this  land  for  civil 
strife  shall  there  be  fighting  men  abroad  or  weeping  maids  at  home." 

The  arbitrament  of  arms  shall  give  way  to  arbitration.  Less  and  less  shall 
the  human  heart  respond  to  a  patriotism  of  the  sword,  until  at  last  a  day  shall 
dawn  when 

"  The  battle  flags  are  furled 
In  the  Parliament  of  man. 
The  federation  of  the  world." 

And  yet  I  stand  before  you  this  evening  to  emphasize  the  third  great  occasion 
in  our  national  history  for  a  patriotic  war.  Never  has  there  been  such  need  of 
an  exalted  Christian  patriotism  as  there  is  to-day.  There  is  abundance  of  jin- 
goism, tawdry,  and  barbaric,  which  would  stand,  possibly,  for  country,  right  or 
wrong.  There  is  a  superabundance  of  the  dirty  partisanship  which  has  crushed 
out  the  moral  life  of  all  party  politics.  But  where  do  we  find  an  ardent  and 
intelligent  patriotism  that  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill,  or  the  spoils  of  office 
cannot  buy  ?  Where  is  the  love  of  the  fatherland  that  once  illumined  the  fair 
morning  of  our  national  life.''  Where  is  the  consecrated  devotion  that  inspired 
the  free-soil  patriots  for  whom  Wendell  Phillips  spoke,  when,  in  Boston,  on 
that  morning  never  to  be  forgotten,  he  said,  "  Many  times  I  have  counselled 
peace.  One  of  the  journals  announces  to  you  that  I  come  here  this  morning 
to  retract  those  opinions.  No!  not  one  of  them  !  I  need  them  all,  every  word 
that  I  have  spoken,  every  act  of  twenty-five  years  of  my  life,  to  make  the  wel- 
come I  give  this  war  hearty  and  hot."  Where  do  we  find  such  patriotism  to- 
day ? 

We  do  not  find  active  in  the  heart  of  the  great  common  people  this  spirit 
that  once  flamed  through  city,  hamlet,  and  prairie  cabin, —  "We  are  coming, 
Father  Abraham;  we  are  coming  six  hundred  thousand  strong!" 

"  He  hath  sounded  forth  the  trumpet 

That  shall  never  call  retreat ; 
He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  man 

Before  his  judgment-seat. 
Be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him; 

Be  jubilant,  my  feet ; 
The  Lord  is  marching  on." 

The  great  common  people  of  America,  to-day,  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes. 

The  first  class  is  that  of  the  worthless  immigrants  and  the  detritus  of  our 
American  life.  Penniless  and  ill-fed,  unwashed  and  unlearned,  many  of  them 
degraded  by  ages  of  tyranny,  they  bear  with  them  the  seeds  of  all  that  is  law- 
less and  un-American.  They  are  the  vagabond  children  of  hunger  and  despair. 
Their  flag  is  the  red  flag  of  anarchy.  Their  fatherland  is  the  country  which 
they  can  most  easily  plunder.  It  has  been  computed  that  there  are  in  America 
85,76s  tramps.     More  than  one-half  of  them  are  of  American  parentage. 

The  second  great  class  of  the  common  people  is  that  vast  body  of  wage- 
earners  whom  politicaleconomists  term  "producers  and  consumers."  They  are 
the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  nation.  This  is  the  class  which  back  in  those  sober 
religious  days  of  sturdy  New  England  Puritanism  was  distinguished  by  its  non- 
conformist conscience.  To-day  it  cares  nothing  for  the  heritage  of  the  Puri- 
tans.    Its  heart  is  fixed  on  "  a  community  of  pelf."     Its  religion  is  the  gospel 


122  Official  Report  of  the 

of  the  horse-leech's  daughters.  Its  motto  is  "  Enrich  yourselves."  It  bids  the 
Son  of  God  stand  still  before  the  giant  selfishness  of  business.  It  has  inaugu- 
rated an  era  of  Epicureanism  that  is  sweeping  this  whole  nation  into  the  mad, 
wild  dance  of  folly  around  the  calf  of  gold. 

Behold  the  results  !  Politics  a  pandemonium  where  blind  guides  which  strain 
at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, 
and  when  he  is  made  they  make  him  twofold  more  the  child  of  hell  than 
themselves.  The  liquor  traffic,  freshly  incorporated  legally  to  be  fattened,  as, 
with  fangs  lengthened  and  sharpened  by  a  new  whiskey  trust,  it  sinks  its  poison 
deeper  into  the  body  politic.  The  social-evil  vampire  licensed  and  protected  by 
the  guardians  of  public  purity.  Capital  and  labor  hopelessly  embroiled  Capi- 
tal, a  soulless  sweater,  greedily  refusing  to  Christianize  the  laborer's  environ- 
ment. Labor,  like  a  mad  dog,  "  gasping,  yelping,  and  snapping,  helpless  in  the 
swirl  and  suck  of  monopoly's  maelstrom."  Pauperism,  with  her  demoniac 
daughter,  socialism,  fermenting  strikers  and  riots  that  partake  of  civil  war.  The 
Afro-American,  that  "  image  of  God  carved  in  ebony,"  still  heaped,  in  the  white 
name  of  liberty,  with  dastardly  indignities  and  bestial  outrages.  Massachusetts 
ostracising  and  South  Carolina  disfranchising  the  negro,  Florida  making  it  a 
penal  offence  to  educate  white  and  black  children  togetner,  while  Romanism, 
as  if  to  sound  the  ossification  of  the  public  conscience,  dares  in  the  open  streets 
of  Boston  to  spit  on  the  symbol  of  the  national  school  system  and  to  insult  the 
American  flag. 

The  Church  stands  impotent  before  these  wrongs  because  for  a  generation 
she  has  avoided  them.  She  has  not  ventured  the  only  remedy, —  self-giving. 
She  has  not  dared  to  become  a  divine  incarnation  brought  down  to  date.  We 
have  lived  so  long  in  the  piping  times  of  peace  that  we  have  lost  our  civic 
muscle.  "We  are  in  the  condition  upon  which  autocrats  and  dictators  feed." 
If  we  would  not  as  a  people  forfeit  our  divine  inheritance,  the  hour  for  a  new 
patriotic  warfare  has  come. 

This  is  not  the  call  of  a  Continental  Congress  to  shoulder  a  musket  or 
buckle  on  a  sword.  This  is  not  the  bugle-note  of  an  endangered  fatherland 
for  patriots  to  assemble  and  to  hurl  themselves  in  one  huge  embodiment  of 
zeal  and  vengeance  upon  a  traitorous  foe.  This  is  the  call  for  the  awakening  of 
the  civic  conscience,  the  demand  that  truth  and  righteousness  shall  become  our 
standards  as  a  people. 

This  is  the  summons  for  every  citizen  of  moral  muscle  and  spiritual  back- 
bone to  awake,  to  arise  from  his  sleep  of  civic  indifference,  and  to  heed  the 
voice,  "What  doest  thou  here.?"  This  is  the  summons  for  every  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ  "to  bear  the  star  of  Bethlehem,  not  only  in  the  blue  ground  of  his 
flag,  but  also  in  the  white  sinews  of  his  arms  and  in  the  red  tissue  of  his 
heart." 

They  tell  me  that  patriotism  in  America  is  dead.  I  do  not  believe  it.  I 
concede,  with  Robertson,  that  if  moral  evil  were  clothed  with  flesh  and  blood, 
and  marshalled  as  an  army  to  invade  oui-  homes  and  ravage  the  country,  there 
would  spring  forth  an  opposing  army  to  meet,  resist,  and  utterly  destroy  the 
invader.  But  our  weapons  are  not  carnal.  We  war  a  warfare  with  principali- 
ties and  powers,  led  by  the  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air.  And  I  believe, 
with  Plutarch,  that  though  there  may  be  a  delay  in  divine  justice,  that 
justice  ever  comes  at  the  last,  swift  and  sure.  But  we  who  are  the  defenders  of 
our  homes  to-day  will  be  faithless  cowards  if  we  court  indifference  or  flee  from 
the  struggle,  which  demands  our  noblest  aspirations,  highest  courage,  and 
bravest  endurance.  The  honors  which  await  us  will  evade  us  and  flee  to  our 
children,  who  will  win  what  we  ought  to  have  won.  We  will  transmit  nothing 
but  our  inheritance,  and  that  impaired  by  our  neglect. 

"  Others  shall  sine  the  song, 
Others  shall  right  the  wrong," 

another  generation  will  take  our  crown. 

Our  country  needs  a  new  conception  of  patriotism,  a  comprehension  of  civic 
duty  that  sliall  summon  the  youth  of  this  land  to  unite,  "  fair  as  the  morn,  clear 
as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners,"  determined  that  by  the  help 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  123 

of  Him  whose  word  is  as  a  thousand  swords,  America  shall  not  be  given  over  to 
anarchy,  to  self-will  and  the  devil.  To  whom  shall  our  country  look  to  give  her 
these  but  to  us,  her  Christian  young  people?  We  have  here  no  continuing 
city.  We  are  the  patriots  of  a  heavenly  country.  We  are  the  sons  of  God. 
We  are  the  trustees  of  posterity.  On  whom  else  shall  she  call  "to  wake  the 
deep  slumber  of  careless  opinion,  to  startle  the  torpor  of  an  immoral  acqui- 
escence, to  kindle  burning  aspirations,  to  set  noble  examples  }  "  And  God  made 
woman  to  be  man's  equal.  With  our  sisters  we  will  strike  hands  that  this 
country  shall  cast  out  her  devils,  and,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  be  clothed 
and  in  her  right  mind.  We  will  no  longer  be  silence-keepers  to  hell,  but  we 
will  live  for  God ;  we  will  fight  for  God.  And  when  we  can  no  longer  fight 
we  will  pray  for  the  mildew  of  God's  wrath  on  "  whatsoever  worketh  abomina- 
tion," or  would  delay  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  will  put  an  iron 
heel  on  the  dram-shop.  We  will  hound  colorphobia  back  to  its  lair.  We  will 
teach  anarchists  and  religious  bigots  that  adherence  to  a  red  flag  or  a  red  robe 
shall  never  cloak  violence  or  lawlessness.  We  will  give  no  clean  votes  to  dirty 
politicians.  We  will  carry  the  Gospel  into  the  Tibet  land  of  American  trade. 
We  will  shame  religious  shams.  We  will  force  respect  for  the  Sabbath.  We 
will  cleanse  the  Augean  stables  of  the  press.  We  will  quicken  the  dying 
sense  of  the  holiness  of  marriage.  We  will  defy  the  arrogant  tyrannies  of 
that  public  sentiment  which  builds  on  the  love  of  money  and  the  lust  of  spoils. 
We  will  lift  up  our  hearts  and  our  hands  to  welcome  the  purest  patriotism  that 
the  world  can  know, —  a  patriotism  that  shall  measure  all  things  by  a  divine 
standard,  and  shall  act  with  the  sense  of  a  divine  captaincy.  We  have  a 
passion  for  the  planet, —  we  will  exalt  Jesus  and  humanity;  we  who  are 

"  The  heirs  of  all  the  ages 
In  the  foremost  files  of  time," 

we  will  consecrate  ourselves  to  the  one  work  of  winning  men  to  the  standard  of 
the  Cross,  until  this  whole  nation  is  come  to  the  Christ, 

"  And  green  forever  be  the  groves, 
And  bright  the  flowery  sod 
Where  first  the  child's  glad  spirit  loves 
Its  country  and  its  God." 

The  next  speaker  was  Mrs.  J.  Ellen  Foster,  of  Washington. 

Address  of  Mrs.  J.  Ellen  Foster,  Washington,  D.C. 

We  condemn  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants.  They  do  not  build  up  the 
body,  they  retard  the  assimilation  of  food,  they  weaken  the  vital  organs,  they 
degenerate  the  muscles,  they  paralize  the  nerves,  they  cook  the  brain.  The 
use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  has  another  and  more  subtle  effect  on  the  human 
organism  ;  this  poison  effects  the  mental  and  the  moral  nature;  it  causes  obliq- 
uity of  vision  and  dulness  of  conscience.  The  victim  does  not  see,  neither 
does  he  understand,  and,  saddest  of  all,  he  does  not  care.  Drink  is  the  most 
subtle  and  the  mightiest  enemy  of  man's  body,  brain,  and  character.  It 
debauches  manhood,  it  despoils  womanhood,  it  slaughters  childhood,  it  dese- 
crates the  family,  it  embroils  communities,  it  pauperizes  the  masses,  it  threat- 
ens the  State.  Away  with  it ;  drive  the  swinish  thing  into  the  sea.  Let  no 
Christian  citizen,  let  no  son  or  daughter  of  the  King,  touch  the  accursed  thing. 

When  imagination  paints  the  race  as  it  will  be  when  the  accursed  thing  no 
longer  defiles  the  earth,  and  faith  makes  the  vision  a  reality,  then  I  shout  with 
America's  beloved  daughter,  "  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of 
the  Lord."  No  man  liveth  to  himself  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself;  the  Chris- 
tian finds  himself  not  only  in  the  family  and  in  the  Church,  but  in  the  State, 
and  he  must  render  to  Ccesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's. 

When  one  inquires.  How  shall  the  Christian  citizen  stand  in  relation  to  politi- 
cal action.''  it  is  well  first  to  remember  that  civil  and  political  citizenship  under 
oui  flag  are  not  conditioned  on  moral  character.  "All  persons  born  or  natu- 
ralized in  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens 


124  Official  Report  of  the 

of  the  United  States  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside."  At  the  beginning, 
in  some  of  the  colonies,  political  citizenship  was  withheld  from  non-church- 
members.  A  study  of  the  efforts  of  the  Fathers  to  found  either  a  Church-State 
or  to  unite  the  Church  and  the  State  as  illustrated  in  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut is  most  interesting.  These  efforts  were  often  illumined  with  the  glow 
of  heroic  purpose,  and  sometimes  shadowed  with  the  grotesque  arrogance  of 
bigotry;  but  this  has  now  passed  away,  and  nowhere  in  the  United  States  is 
religious  belief  made  a  test  of  citizenship.  The  Christian  has  no  eminence 
under  the  law  ;  he  has  no  priority  of  title  to  civil  or  political  preferment ;  in 
civil  and  political  relations  he  is  known  only  as  a  resident  of  the  community,  a 
tax-payer,  a  voter. 

When  Jesus  said,  "All  ye  are  brethren,"  he  uttered  the  prophetic  truth 
upon  which  popular  governments  and  republican  institutions  rest.  This 
"  brotherhood  "  permits  no  coercion  in  religious  belief.  It  puts  no  restraints 
on  individual  conduct,  except  the  necessary  limitations  whereby  all  may  enjoy 
the  fullest  liberty  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  The  law  informs  us  what  these 
limits  are;  Christian  and  Jew,  Pagan  and  Agnostic,  are  all  equally  bound;  none 
are  exempt. 

What  a  Christian  voter  shall  do  in  the  wide  range  of  political  action  he 
alone  can  decide  when  the  duty  is  imminent ;  we  may,  however,  know  the  out- 
line of  his  duties.  He  should  vote;  he  should  render  to  Cssar  the  things  that 
are  Caesar's.  I  have  known  intelligent  men,  leaders  of  thought  and  teachers  of 
public  morals,  who  for  one  reason  and  another  did  not  perform  this  simple 
duty;  I  have  known  others  who  scorned  to  take  any  hand  in  "practical 
politics."  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  at  every  election  —  more  especially 
local  and  State  —  there  are  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  men  who  do  not 
vote,  and  even  disparage  as  shallow  enthusiasts  those  who  magnify  political 
effort  and  responsibility.  In  all  aggregated  responsibility  there  is  danger  that 
the  unit  will  lose  itself  in  the  mass,  and  weakness  and  utter  disregard  of  effort 
be  the  result.  Does  not  the  citizen  who  will  not  "  mix  up  in  politics  "  assume 
arrogance  as  well  as  lack  of  appreciation  ?  Does  he  not  imply  that  he  is  made 
of  better  stuff  than  other  citizens,  and  therefore  will  not  lose  his  identity  in  the 
mass  ?  This  sentiment  may  not  be  formulated  in  his  own  mind,  but  does  it  not 
lurk  behind  his  failure .?  In  this  country  the  average  citizen  wears  the  crown 
of  sovereignty ;  good  and  bad,  intelligent  and  ignorant,  meet  at  the  ballot-box 
and  determine  what  this  average  is.  He  who  withholds  an  intelligent  Christian 
vote  by  so  much  lowers  the  quality  of  the  average  vote. 

"  Practical  politics  "  to  the  Christian  citizen  should  mean  that  he  will  use  his 
greatest  endeavor  to  nominate  and  help  elect  the  very  best  men  which  the  local 
sentiment  will  support.  This  "  best  man  "  may  not  be  an  ideal  Christian  cit- 
izen, for  ours  is  a  representative  government ;  but  Christian  citizens  should 
support  those  who  because  of  their  own  character  and  political  afifiliations  may 
be  reasonably  expected  to  give  their  support  to  the  highest  present  attainable 
good  in  civil  and  political  life. 

Political  parties  are  a  recognized  agency  in  the  administration  of  constitu- 
tional government.  Party  politics  more  properly  deal  with  questions  of  admin- 
istration in  government  than  with  moral  questions  not  yet  a  part  of  the 
government.  Party  issues  are  made  when  differing  conclusions  are  reached 
as  to  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  certain  forms  of  administration.  Protection 
and  Free  Trade,  Bimetalism  and  Monometalism,  are  illustrations  of  legitimate 
party  utterances.  These  questions  are  in  no  sense  moral  i.ssues,  although  to 
the  individual  "silverite  "  or  "gold  bug  "  there  exists  the  moral  obligation  to 
support  the  policy  which  his  individual  judgment  approves. 

The  cjuestions  involving  material  interests,  which  are  championed  by  politi- 
cal parties,  ought  not  to  be  despised  by  the  Christian  citizen. 

The  last  speaker  was  the  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Christian 
Endeavor  Union. 


Fifteenth  Internatiojial  Convejition.  125 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  T.  McCrory,  D.D.,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

The  following  declaration  was  made  in  the  Senate  Chamber  yonder  on  the 
hill,  a  few  years  ago,  by  a  representative  of  the  Christian  commonwealth  of 
Kansas:  "  The  purification  of  politics  is  an  iridescent  dream.  Government  is 
force.  Politics  is  a  battle  for  supremacy.  Parties  are  the  armies.  The  Deca- 
logue and  the  Golden  Rule  have  no  place  in  a  poHtical  campaign!"  I  have 
heard  of  an  eccentric  and  zealous  old  Christian  who  was  in  the  habit  of  "speak- 
ing out  in  meeting  "  and  signifying  his  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  senti- 
ments uttered  by  his  pastor.  A  strange  minister  occupied  the  pulpit  one  day 
and  was  detailing  so.ne  dazzling  heresy  and  was  quite  paralyzed  to  hear  from  the 
pew  the  unctuous  and  emphatic  response,  "  Thank  the  Lord,  that  is  a  lie." 
One  could  wish  that  somewhere  in  the  Senate  Chamber  or  the  galleries  there 
had  been  such  a  Christian  patriot  to  greet  this  sentiment  of  Senator  Ingalls  in 
the  same  way,  for,  thank  the  Lord,  that  is  a  lie.  That  sentiment  has  been  char- 
acterized as  both  infamous  and  brutal.  If  the  senator  was  right,  then  Christ 
has  no  place  in  national  life  and  my  theme  is  a  misnomer.  But  he  was  not 
right.  Ten  thousand  voices  in  this  country  declare  that  characterization  of 
American  life  is  false.  "This  is  a  Christian  nation."  That  declaration  came 
from  the  Supreme  Bench  since  the  other  was  made  in  the  Senate  Chamber.  But 
the  subject  I  am  to  discuss  should  have  a  text.  We  Endeavorers  want  to  feel 
that  we  are  on  the  "  Rock"  in  politics  as  everywhere  else.  My  text  is  an  inci- 
dent that  occurred  in  the  beginnings  of  the  Gospel  in  Europe.  Paul  had  respon- 
ded to  the  vision  from  Macedonia  and  had  come,  in  his  journey,  to  Thessalonica. 
His  enemies,  the  Jews,  sought  to  drive  him  out.  They  declared  he  was  a  revo- 
lutionist; that  he  proclaimed  another  king  in  opposition  to  Caesar;  that  he 
was  turning  the  world  upside  down  with  his  doctrines;  that  he  proposed  to 
dethrone  Augustus  and  put  Jesus  in  his  place.  Of  course  that  was  not  true  as 
they  meant  it.  Still  it  was  true  that  Christ  would,  in  some  real  sense,  displace 
the  Roman  tyrant  and  revolutionize  the  Roman  government,  for  he  is  a  revolu- 
tionist. His  purpose  in  coming  into  the  world  was  to  produce  a  complete,  radi- 
cal revolution  in  all  the  affairs  connected  with  human  life  and  society.  In 
describing  his  own  mission  he  declared,  "  I  came  not  to  bring  peace,  but  a 
sword."  Every  prophesy  that  heralded  his  coming  told  the  same  story.  It  is 
true  these  prophesies  are  also  bright  with  the  visions  of  a  golden  age;  a  blessed 
peace  that  is  to  embrace  all  the  earth  is  the  thrilling  hope  inspired  by  the  prom- 
ises of  his  coming.  But  does  not  that  very  fact  foreshadow  revolution?  Does 
not  the  fulfilment  of  these  promises  necessitate  the  turning  of  the  world  upside 
down  ? 

Let  me  call  your  attention  first  to  the  fact  that  the  aspect  of  the  Cross  is 
undergoing  a  great  change  in  this  regard.  There  was  a  time,  not  so  long  ago 
either,  when  the  Cross  was  viewed  almost  exclusively  in  reference  to  the  salva- 
tion of  the  individual.  We  looked  at  Calvary  amid  the  shadows  of  the  awful 
day  and  heard  the  sweet  assurance  given  by  the  suffering  Saviour  to  the  dying 
thief,  "  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise,"  and  were  disposed  to  con- 
clude that  the  whole  meaning  of  that  mysterious  and  merciful  sacrifice  was 
summed  up  in  the  rescue  of  the  individual  sinner.  We  have  taken  that  picture 
which  brings  tears  to  every  eye  that  looks  upon  it,  where  the  shipwrecked 
woman  clings  to  the  cross  standing  there  upon  the  rock  where  beat  the  billows 
of  an  angry  sea,  while  the  broken  vessel  is  dashed  madly  upon  the  shore,  as 
the  full  representation  of  the  saving  purposes  of  the  Son  of  man.  But  our  con- 
ception of  his  work  and  mission  has  been  mightily  enlarged.  That  transaction 
on  the  hill  back  of  Jerusalem  almost  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  concerns  not 
only  every  man  but  every  interest  and  institution  of  humanity.  It  has  grown 
upon  us  as  some  of  the  great  events  and  battles  of  the  world  have  grown. 
Marathon  was  more  than  its  age  thought.  It  was  more  than  a  battle  between 
two  peoples.  It  was  the  turning-point  in  the  tide  of  civilization.  There  the 
hordes  of  barbarism  were  turned  back  and  civilization  took  up  its  march 
toward  the  new  day.  Waterloo  means  more  to  us  than  it  did  to  the  contending 
forces  on  that  desperate  field.     The  coming  of  Blucher  not  only  saved  the  day 


126  Official  Report  of  the 

for  Wellington,  but  changed  the  map  of  Europe  and  gave  to  despotism  the 
staggering  blow  from  which  it  is  never  to  recover.  Gettysburg  was  a  glorious 
victory  even  as  we  understood  it  on  that  memorable  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  when 
the  lightning  tlashed  the  glad  tidings  across  the  continent  and  around  the 
world.  But  we  were  mistaken  in  the  thought  that  it  was  only  a  victory  for  the 
North  against  the  South.  Itv/as  a  turning-point  in  history  for  the  mighty 
American  nation  both  North  and  South.  We  stand  with  uncovered  head  on 
that  immortal  field  to-day  after  the  lapse  of  a  generation  and  try  to  realize  the 
solemnity  becoming  the  place  where  the  everlasting  purpose  that  "  free  gov- 
ernment "  should  not  "  die  out  among  men  "  was  sealed  in  the  best  blood  of  all 
sections  of  this  great  country.  He  who  stands  yonder  where  Pickett's  daunt- 
less thousands  hurled  themselves  in  deathless  energy  against  Hancock^s  fear- 
less and  immovable  battalions  to  speak  in  boastful  tones  of  either  side  in  that 
desperate  fray  has  no  soul  for  the  courage  and  conviction  that  sent  those  eager 
thousands  forward  into  the  embrace  of  death  or  held  the  lines  they  hurled 
themselves  upon  with  daring  unsurpassed.  Gettysburg  was  a  battle-field  that 
is  of  primary  interest  to  all  the  world.  So  we  conceive  it  to  have  been  with 
Calvary.  Those  wide-stretched  arms  of  the  dying  Christ  were  extended  for  the 
uplift  of  the  race.  But  the  uplift  of  the  race  means  the  elevation  of  all  the 
institutions  essential  to  the  welfare  of  humanity.  That  means  civil  govern- 
ment. We  are  begmning  to  appreciate  this  fact  more  and  more  as  civilization 
advances.  As  Christians  we  must  believe  that  this  world  never  can  be  restored 
to  an  ideal  state,  morally,  socially,  or  politically,  until  Christ  is  enthroned.  I 
can  understand  how  unbelievers  may  contest  this  proposition ;  but  to  the 
Christian  the  only  salvation  for  this  world  is  found  in  the  Cross.  Now,  if  I 
understand  it  aright,  it  is  one  purpose  of  this  great  Endeavor  movement  to 
enthrone  Christ  in  our  national  life.  Be  patient  with  me  then  while  I  present 
some  practical  suggestions  for  your  consideration  and  assistance. 

I.  Christ  is  in  national  life  in  a  practical,  telling  way  when  he  is  repre- 
sented by  the  makers  and  executors  of  the  law  and  the  founders  and  fashion- 
ers of  political  institutions.  To  illustrate  :  {a)  Christ  got  practically  into  our 
national  life  when  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower,  entered 
into  that  solemn  compact  setting  forth  that  they  had  undertaken  that  perilous 
voyage  for  the  purpose  of  planting  a  colony  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Christian  faith,  and  pledging  themselves  to  frame  civil  insti- 
tutions with  that  end  in  view.  To  that  pledge  they  and  their  descendants  were 
loyal  for  the  next  five  generations.  During  that  formative  period  many  things 
were  wrought  that  they  had  not  calculated  on,  so  that,  in  the  end,  a  new  order 
of  things  developed  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  leaven.  It  will  hardly 
be  claimed  by  any  one  that  the  first  settlers,  wise  and  progressive  as  they  were, 
intended  to  found  the  free,  republican  institutions  which  came  into  existence 
with  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  they  had  unconsciously  provided 
for  just  this  outcome  when  they  had  given  Christ  a  place  in  our  national  life. 
The  advanced  political  institutions  of  this  great  Republic  are  the  inevitable  re- 
sult of  the  place  given  to  the  Gospel  at  the  beginning  of  our  civil  order,  (p) 
Then,  again,  Christ  got  practically  into  our  national  life  by  means  of  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence.  When  the  representatives  of  the  thirteen  colonies, 
appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  their  inten- 
tions, and  with  a  firm  reliance  on  Divine  Providence,  mutually  pledging  to  each 
other  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor,  took  their  stand  on  the 
side  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  as  against  the  Old-World  doctrine  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  which  was  only  another  name  for  despotism,  they  put  Christ 
into  our  national  life.  That  was  so  because  the  doctrine  they  announced  was 
eternal  truth.  It  was  in  line  with  the  entire  teaching  of  the  Bible.  Christ  in 
national  life,  as  everywhere  else,  stands  for  the  rights  of  the  individual.  It  is 
his  purpose  that  every  man  shall  be  a  free  man.  He  is  in  the  world  to  paralyze 
every  arm  of  oppression,  break  every  bond  of  despotism,  dethrone  every  foe  of 
human  freedom  ;  to  annihilate  every  sullen,  selfish  force  and  influence  which  the 
arch-despot  has  employed  for  the  enslavement  of  the  world,  and  let  the  race  go 
free. 


FiftcoitJi  Intertiatiojial  Convention.  127 

Christ  has  not  wrought  out  his  entire  purpose  concerning  this  nation  yet. 
He  has  not  been  accorded  the  full  place  to  wliich  he  is  entitled  and  which  the 
welfare  of  this  country  demands  in  our  national  life.  It  is  not  my  wish  to  dis- 
hearten any  one,  as  we  turn  our  faces  toward  the  future  and  consider  the  work 
yet  to  be  done  on  behalf  of  righteousness  in  this  great  Republic.  But  I  must  be 
honest  and  straightforward  with  you.  I  must,  therefore,  say  to  you  that  this  is 
no  holiday  or  dress-parade  business  in  which  we  are  engaged,— getting  Christ 
into  our  national  life.  It  never  has  been  and  never  will  be.  He  has  never 
come  in  on  the  tidal  wave  of  popularity  by  the  votes  of  majorities  or  the 
applause  of  the  multitude.  He  comes  in  just  as  he  came  into  Thessalonica  in 
Paul's  day,  through  suspicion,  false  accusation,  mob  violence,  imprisonments, 
and  martyrdoms.  Mind  that.  It  will  help  you  some  day  when  you  are  suffer- 
ing for  this  cause.  Christ  gets  into  place  and  power  in  national  life  just  as  he 
got  into  his  place  and  power  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  yonder  in  the 
heavens, —  by  Gethsemane,  Gabbatha,  and  Calvary.  There  is  a  must-needs-be 
for  the  bloody  sweat,  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  the  cross  on  the  way  to  the 
enthronement  of  righteousness  in  this  world.  Over  yonder,  in  Scotland,  they 
have  just  been  engaged  in  doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  martyrs  of  former 
centuries.  Who  were  these  men  t  They  are  the  men  who  sought  in  their  day 
to  get  Christ  into  national  life,  and  they  lost  their  heads  for  it.  They  stood,  in 
their  day,  for  what  they  called  the  "crown  rights  of  King  Jesus,"  the  same 
thing  precisely  that  the  Christian-citizenship  movement  of  Christian  Endeavor 
stands  for  in  this  country  to-day.  Let  us  then  make  up  our  account  to  suffer 
for  it  in  some  way,  if  we  propose  to  take  any  serious  part  in  this  important 
business.     It  must  come  to  this. 

2.  Our  enterprise  will  be  desperately  antagonized.  Consider  some  of  the 
forces  that  will  oppose  us.  {a)  We  will  be  opposed  in  the  name  of  religion. 
Extremes  will  meet.  The  narrowness  of  so-called  Liberalism  will  be  joined  by 
the  despotism  of  Roman  Catholicism.  This  is  not  theorizing.  This  is  history,  — 
history  that  will,  inevitably,  repeat  itself.  Take,  for  illustration,  the  common- 
school  question.  When  the  assault  was  made  some  years  ago  on  the  Bible  in 
the  schools  of  Cincinnati  these  extremes  were  found  banded  in  one  fell  pur- 
pose to  secularize  this  characteristic  American  institution  and  so  work  its  de- 
struction. And  they  partly  succeeded.  The  same  thing  was  seen  in  Boston 
and  other  cities  of  the  country.  You  are  for  "  The  Little  Red  Schoolhouse." 
But,  if  I  understand  that  phrase,  you  do  not  mean  simply  a  building  with  walls 
and  shingles  and  plaster,  to  shelter  the  young  between  the  ages  of  six  and 
twenty-one  from  the  summer's  heat  and  the  winter's  cold.  You  mean  a  place 
for  the  training  of  men  and  women  for  American  citizenship.  You  believe,  as 
that  great  document,  the  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  Northwest,  de- 
clares, that,  "religion,  morality,  and  knowledge"  are  necessary  to  good  gov- 
ernment and  the  happiness  of  mankind.  You  believe  that  we  should  therefore 
cultivate  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  country,  and  that,  hence,  the  open 
Bible  should  be  always  inside  the  schoolhouse  and  the  old  flag  forever  float 
above  it.  This  is  one  of  the  foremost  issues  of  this  hour.  Let  popular  educa- 
tion be  abandoned  and  multitudes  will  grow  up  in  ignorance,  fit  tools  for  des- 
potism. On  the  other  hand,  educate  the  brain  of  America  without  the  con- 
science and  you  but  prepare  the  way  for  our  speedier  destruction.  We  must, 
in  sheer  self-defence,  look  after  the  education  of  our  future  citizenship  or  suffer 
the  consequences.  But  we  do  not  want,  and  will  not  have,  any  priest  business 
in  that  education,  nor  will  we  submit  to  the  immorality  of  atheism  or  unbelief  of 
any  kind.  We  want  the  Word  of  God  to  get  straight  at  the  understandings  of 
the  young  by  means  of  an  open  Bible.  This  will  cost  a  struggle,  {b)  For 
another  thing  we  must  count  on  the  opposition  of  base  partisanship  and  politi- 
cal prejudice.  I  do  not  believe  that  voter  fairly  represented  the  average  con- 
stituency of  any  existing  political  organization  when  he  declared  that  if  his 
party  nominated  the  devil  for  office  he  would  vote  for  him.  I  do  not  believe  it 
is  altogether  so  bad  as  that.  Anyway,  I  question  whether  the  devil  would  give 
up  his  general  oversight  of  all  parties  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  any  of 
them.     Partisanship,  nevertheless,  is  standing  squarely  across  the  pathway  of 


128  Official  Report  of  the 

every  reform.  Take  the  matter  of  the  government  of  our  cities.  You  will  not 
tind  a  sane  man  anywhere  out  believes  municipal  government  all  over  this 
nation  is  a  menace  and  a  curse.  Through  robbery  and  jobbery  and  bribery 
taxation  is  fivefold  what  it  should  be.  What  is  it  that  stands  in  the  way  of  re- 
form .''  Nothing  in  this  wide  world  but  the  partisanship  of  politics.  The  case 
must  become  desperate  before  the  average  voter  will  say  "  No  "  to  the  "boss;" 
And  it  is  altogether  likely  that  if  he  says  "  No"  at  this  election  he  will  endorse 
at  the  next  the  villany  he  opposed.  Look  at  New  York  City.  Out  of  sheer  dis- 
gust with  the  vileness  of  Tammany,  three  years  ago,  the  people  rose  up  and 
seemingly  shook  off  the  clutches  of  the  "  Tiger  "  from  their  throat.  But  parti- 
sanship robbed  them  of  their  victory  and  they  are  soon  to  be  back  again  under 
the  old  despotism.     It  is  thus  in  every  city  that  has  attempted  reform. 

Or  take  the  effort  for  the  destruction  of  that  vwnstriifn  horrend2(ii!  of 
nineteenth-century  civilization, —  the  saloon  and  liquor  traffic.  No  decent  man 
defends  the  saloon.  The  universal  verdict  from  people  of  even  average  moral- 
ity is  that  it  ought  to  die.  The  evangelical  churches  represented  in  Christian 
Endeavor  and  standing  for  not  less  than  forty  millions  of  our  population  have 
declared  again  and  again,  with  burning  emphasis,  that  the  liquor  traffic  is  "the 
sum  of  all  villanies,"  an  offence  against  high  heaven  and  a  curse  to  the  world, 
and  that  its  legalization  is  a  sin  and  a  crime.  It  is  pointed  out,  over  and  over 
again,  that  this  traffic  is  the  cause  of  nine-tenths  of  the  poverty,  degradation, 
crime,  and  general  political  and  social  corruption  of  the  times.  The  cry  is 
heard  from  a  million  of  these  Christian  homes  every  year,  "The  saloon  has  got 
my  boy,"  "  The  saloon  has  ruined  my  daughter,"  while  a  hundred  thousand 
graves,  with  not  a  gleam  of  resurrection  hope,  hide  away  each  year  the  heart- 
ache of  as  many  wives  and  mothers  in  the  person  of  the  dead  which  the  saloon 
has  robbed  and  murdered  and  damned.  And  yet  there  it  stands  in  all  its  hell- 
ish enormity  and  brazen  effrontery,  pointing  to  its  justification  in  the  license 
decreed  it  by  the  votes  of  American  citizens,  five  millions  of  whom  are  mem- 
bers of  our  churches  and  Christian  men;  five  millions  of  whom  have  said  in 
their  church  resolutions  that  it  ought  to  die,  that  its  legalization  is  a  crime  and  a 
sin.  Why  have  they  not  made  that  declaration  good  at  the  ballot-box.?  The 
answer  is, "  Partisanship  and  political  prejudice."  It  is  said  that  some  years  ago 
Rev.  George  R.  Stuart  was  preaching  in  Kentucky,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  ser- 
mon a  poor  Irish  woman  started  down  the  aisle,  crying, "  Mr.  Stuart,  the  saloon 
has  my  boy."  He  stopped  and  asked,  "Ho.w  many  other  mothers  are  there 
here  who  can  bear  that  same  tragic  testimony.?"  Hands  went  up  all  over  the 
house;  kid-gloved  hands,  toil-hardened  hands,  hands  of  all  classes  of  people. 
Then  Mr.  Stuart  said,  "  Men  of  Kentucky,  I  do  not  know  what  kind  of  stuff 
you  are  made  of;  but  I  am  made  of  the  kind  of  stuff  that  w^ill  stand  for  these 
mothers  against  the  saloon  and  the  liquor  traffic,"  and  that  entire  congregation 
rose  to  its  feet.  Why  do  not  the  five  million  Christian  men  of  America  rise  to 
their  feet  on  election  day,  and  stand  for  the  robbed  and  broken-hearted  mothers 
against  the  saloon,  as  our  church  resolutions  have  pledged  the  world  they  will  ? 
The  answer  is,  "  Partisanship  and  political  prejudice."  That  spirit  can  only  be 
cast  out  by  the  fuller  coming  of  Christ  into  our  national  life.  I  might  refer  to 
many  other  phases  of  opposition  to  the  entrance  of  Christ  into  national  life; 
but  let  this  suffice.  You  see  what  I  mean.  Now  the  thing  to  be  done  is  that 
we  consecrate  ourselves  anew  to  the  business  of  preparing  the  way  for  that 
coming.  We  may  only  be  John  Baptists.  There  may  be  Herods  to  oppose  us. 
There  may  not  be  the  dungeon  or  the  headsman's  axe  in  response  to  the  appeal 
of  the  harlot,  the  political  boss,  or  the  drink;  but  there  will  be  the  crack  of 
the  political  whip,  the  cry  of  "fool  for  throwing  your  vote  away."  There  will 
be  the  propositions  for  compromise  that  "would  deceive  even  the  elect,"  espe- 
cially if  they  thought  there  was  the  least  chance  by  means  of  the  deception  of 
being  elected.  There  will  be  that  "thief  of  time,"  procrastination,  "just  wait 
till  this  election  is  over,"  and  the  good  intentions  with  which  hell  is  paved, 
which  are  never  put  into  action,  and  a  thousand  other  things  to  baffle  and  op- 
pose you  in  your  good  work.  But  you  get  right  with  God,  and  consecrate 
yourself  to  the  enthronement  of  righteousness  and  hold  firm,  and  Christ  will 
yet  be  supreme  in  our  national  life. 


In  Front  of  the  Capitol  During  the  patriotic  Song  Service. 


In  front  of  the  Senate  portico  During  the  Patriotic  Song  service. 


Calvary   Baptist  Church. 
Armory,  convention  Business  Headquarters. 


First  CONCKtuAriONAL  Church 
WESLEY   M.  E.  Church. 


First  Presbyterian  Church. 
Foundry  m.  e.  Church. 


Nevk  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 
CENTRAL  hall. 


Fifteenth  Intcniational  Convention.  129 

Central  Hall. 

Central  Hall,  beautifully  decorated,  with  streamers  and  bunting 
stretching  to  and  from  every  part  of  the  building,  with  Hags  and  shields 
tastily  arranged  together  all  over  the  walls,  held  a  big  crowd,  which  did 
not  show  any  lack  of  interest  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  musical  director  of  the  evening  was  Chas.  S.  Clark,  chairman  of 
the  music  committee  of  the  Convention.  The  presiding  officer  was 
Mr.  Frank  E.  Page,  of  Chicago. 

Chairman  Page,  in  his  opening  remarks,  said  that  a  few  years  ago  it 
might  have  been  necessary  to  apologize  for  introducing  the  subject, 
"Christian  Citizenship,"  into  a  Christian  Endeavor  meeting,  but  it  was 
now  a  timely  topic. 

Then  Mr.  Page  introduced  as  the  first  speaker  on  this  subject  Mr. 
H.  L.  Castle,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  one  of  the  reform  leaders  of  that  city. 

Address  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Castle,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

The  one  thing  supremely  needful  to  correct  the  committed  evils  in  American 
politics  is  a  wide-awake,  active,  unsubsidized,  incorruptible  Christian  conscience. 
The  affections  of  the  average  American  are  true ;  but  the  conscience  is  per- 
verted, and  the  sense  of  absolute  right  in  politics  is  dethroned,  and  in  its  place 
policy  or  party  necessity  reigns  supreme.  This  condition  has  made  of  our 
Christian  citizenship  a  byword  and  a  jesting.  From  four  to  six  million  men  in 
our  land  who  should  possess  this  acute  conscience  and  unsuborned  principle  of 
right  in  the  highest  degree  of  development  have  slept,  or  but  faintly  protested, 
at  unimportant  times  and  by  inefficient  means,  while  year  by  year  on  the  auc- 
tion-block of  greed,  avarice,  and  ambition,  all  that  the  Church  holds  dearest  in 
the  affairs  of  government  has  been  sold  to  the  saloon  interests  of  this  and  foreign 
lands.  Just  see  how  it  has  affected  our  civilization.  The  name  of  Washington 
naturally  suggests  the  thought  of  Christian  citizenship,  for  it  brings  to  our  mind 
the  image  of  a  Christian  patriot  who  on  bended  knee  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress committed  this  land  to  God.  In  the  dark  hour  of  his  country's  need 
he  rested  on  the  arm  of  Jehovah,  spurned  the  gilded  bribe  of  a  king's  crown,  and 
in  resigning  his  sword  to  Congress  commended  "  the  interests  of  our  dearest 
country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  and  those  who  have  the  superin- 
tendence of  them  to  his  holy  keeping."  But  the  name  of  Washington  City,  as 
the  political  centre  of  our  country,  with  its  cold-tea  bars,  its  "  where-am-I-at " 
representatives,  its  mad  plunge  for  power  at  any  sacrifice  of  principle,  and  its 
godless  atmosphere,  has  in  it  no  more  suggestiveness  of  Christian  statesmanship 
than  do  the  muddy  roads  over  which  Coxey's  army  tramped  to  this  city  sug- 
gest the  golden  streets  of  the  new  Jerusalem.  This  degeneracy  in  politics  is  not 
because  the  world  is  growing  worse,  for  it  is  not,  but  is  day  by  day  being  lifted 
nearer  to  God.  It  is  not  because  there  are  no  good  men  in  the  control  of  poli- 
tics, for  there  are  men  whose  personal  life  is  blameless;  but  it  is  because  the 
organized,  legalized  liquor  traffc  is  in  partisan  politics.  It  formally  entered  on 
June  5,  1861,  when,  at  a  National  Brewers'  Congress  held  in  Chicago,  they 
resolved  :  "  That  we  will  sustain  no  candidate,  of  whatever  party,  in  any  elec- 
tion, who  is  in  any  way  disposed  toward  the  total  abstinence  cause."  So  com- 
plete has  become  their  dominion  that  we  have  the  humiliating  spectacle  presented 
of  a  high  official  of  government  leaving  his  seat  here  in  W^ashington  to  go  to  a 
distant  city  and  appear  before  a  brewers'  congress  with  these  words  upon  his 
lips  :  "  I  am  here  for  the  purpose  of  learning  your  wants.  Congress  has  given 
you  an  internal  revenue  law.  milder  in  its  provisions,  less  burdensome  than  any 
law  affecting  an  equally  great  interest.  Yes.  you  have  begun  well.  Let  us  take 
no  backward  step.  I  say.  Let  «j",  for  I  am  with  you.  Every  patriotic  citizen  is 
with  you.     The  President  is  with  you.     Every  patriotic   citizen  is  with  you  if 


130  Official  Report  of  the 

you  will  hold  to  your  course.  If  there  be  any  regulations  or  anything  whatever 
which  you  may  deem  unreasonable,  I  beg  that  you  will  not  hesitate  to  express 
your  views." 

It  is  true  that  no  man  can  be  elected  to  any  office  of  importance  who  is 
known  to  entertain  feelings  of  active  hostility  to  the  traffic.  While  the  liquor 
interests  have  thus  been  steadily  following  the  letter  of  resolution,  see  what  the 
Church  has  been  doing. 

Laboring  under  the  delusion  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  government  to 
make  men  rich,  we  have  been  attempting  to  vote  ourselves  financially  pros- 
perous, while  we  have  stood  watching  the  foulest  monster  that  ever  had  legal 
life  crawl  up  and  down  through  our  nation,  and,  as  he  goes,  leave  behind  him  a 
track  of  blood  that  can  never  be  washed  out,  feeding  him  our  money  at  the 
rate  of  ^3,000  per  minute.  His  foul  breath  has  died  the  fire  on  thousands  of 
hearthstones;  in  his  clammy  embrace  has  been  hugged  to  death  the  dearest  hope 
of  millions  of  hearts ;  charmed  by  the  gaze  of  his  red  eye,  lawyers  have  tottered 
from  their  throne  of  greatness,  statesmen  have  fallen  from  their  empire  of 
power,  ministers  have  dropped  from  their  pedestal  of  exaltation,  been  caught 
in  the  wide-open  jaws,  and,  ground  to  a  pulp,  swallowed  into  the  belly  of  habitual 
inebriety,  where  they  join  thousands  from  the  humbler  walks  of  life  ;  and  over 
the  wretched  termination  of  their  human  existence,  the  kindliest  prayer  that 
might  be  uttered  in  their  behalf  would  be,  "  O  Lord,  that  in  this  life  or  another 
they  might  never  awaken ! "  This  is  the  condition  begotten  of  saloon  resolu- 
tions and  waved  aside  year  after  year  by  the  Christian  citizen  that  we  might 
vote  ourselves  rich. 

Here  I  stand  before  you,  the  representative  of  the  Christian  youth  of 
America,  and  I  call  upon  you  to  "  strive  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have 
you  do."  This  traffic  ought  to  die.  This  is  attested  in  the  broken  heart  of 
every  father,  mother,  brother,  or  sister  that  is  being  slowly  torn  to  shreds, 
drawn  as  through  a  sieve  of  despair,  burned  over  the  slow  fire  of  anxious  wait- 
ing for  the  coming  doom  of  a  dear  one;  in  every  hearthstone  now  cold  and 
damp,  whose  very  shadows  form  themselves  into  the  ghost  of  bygone  bright- 
ness ;  in  every  brain  from  which  has  been  erased  the  image  of  Godlike  manhood, 
and  upon  which  has  been  imprinted  the  hateful  image  of  the  Prince  of  dark- 
ness. The  liquor  traffic  ought  to  die.  This  is  truth.  I  summon  the  young 
men  of  America  who  have  no  strong  political  ties  to  bind  them,  no  political 
foes  to  punish  or  friends  to  aid;  whose  vision  of  political  righteousness  has  not 
been  narrowed  by  the  astigmatism  of  party  polity  or  obscured  by  the  cataract 
of  party  greed ;  whose  political  hearing  has  not  been  deadened  by  the  din  of  the 
unmanly  shout,  "  Don't  let  the  other  party  win;  "  whose  political  tastes  have 
not  been  perverted  by  the  unwholesome  food  of  victory  at  any  sacrifice  of  prin- 
ciple; whose  political  touch  has  not  been  dulled  by  the  handling  of  the  grue- 
some pestilence  of  machine  politics;  but  whose  vision  is  so  clear  that  they  can 
seethe  Son  of  righteousness;  who  can  hear  the  still  small  voice  in  the  soul; 
who  can  taste  the  sweets  of  doing  right;  who  can  lay  hold  of  the  hand  of  God 
in  the  politics  of  our  land.  You,  young  man,  with  God  in  your  soul,  I  call  you 
to  rise  and  stand  at  the  polls  of  this  nation  this  fall  for  the  destruction  of  the 
liquor  traffic  as  the  one  great,  overshadowing,  overmastering,  all-embracing  foe 
to  this  nation's  credit,  honor,  and  manhood. 

Young  man,  I  call  your  mind  to  the  fact  that  your  Master,  to  whom  at  the 
altar  of  some  church  you  have  surrendered  your  life,  is  to-day  on  trial;  even 
now,  in  the  temple,  he  is  surrounded  by  his  would-be  murderers ;  and  where  are 
you  and  the  church  that  so  lately  made  proclamation  of  allegiance  to  him  by 
notifying  the  world  that  "  no  political  party  need  expect  the  support  of  Chris- 
tian men  so  long  as  it  refuses  to  put  itself  on  record  in  open  hostility  to  the 
saloon,"  —  that  has  even  been  so  ready  to  chop  off  the  ear  of  some  harmless, 
jabbering  servant  ?  Where  are  they  now  ?  For  the  most  part,  warming  them- 
selves beside  some  silver  or  gold  fire,  while  their  Lord  is  in  the  death-struggle 
with  the  power  of  evil.  Do  not  accuse  m.e  of  overdrawing  the  picture.  It  can't 
be  overdrawn.  Within  the  last  thirty  years  the  consumption  of  liquors  has 
increased  from  a  trifle  over  four  gallons  per  capita  to  over  eighteen  gallons  per 


Fifteenth  IntcTiiatioial  Convention.  131 

capita  per  year ;  and  if  this  increase  shall  continue  for  another  thirty  years, 
American  Christian  civilization  goes  out  in  night;  and  if  it  were  true  that 
Freedom  shrieked  when  Kosciusko  fell,  the  very  angels  of  heaven  shall  drop 
their  pinions  of  light  and  weep,  for  a  thousand  years  of  Christian  effort  centres 
in  the  birth  of  the  twentieth  century.  Shall  all  that  effort  be  lost  ?  If  it  is,  it 
means  incalculable  loss  here  and  in  the  hereafter.  And  the  political  conditions 
are  so  shaping  themselves  that  whether  you  wish  it  or  not,  the  call  is  coming  to 
each  of  you  to  stand  upon  one  or  the  other  side  of  the  question,  and  you  must 
answer  fairly  and  squarely,  or  skulk  or  cower  beside  some  fire  of  pelf,  com- 
promise, or  cowardice  while  the  eyes  of  the  dying  Lord  are  turned  in  pity  and 
amazement  upon  you,  the  very  serving-maids  deride  you,  and  the  cock  of  time 
proclaims  another  opportunity  lost.  There  never  was  a  time  when  the  single, 
burning  question,  "  What  will  you  do  with  the  liquor  traffic  ?  "  was  so  clearly 
pressed  into  notice  as  now,  and  God  has  his  Elijahs,  standing  for  the  most  part 
alone,  upon  our  Mount  Carmel,  while  the  priesthood  and  the  crowds  and  the 
majority  are  against  them;  but  still  we  hear  the  challenge,  we  must  hear  it: 
"  How  long  halt  ye  between  the  god  of  silver  and  gold  and  the  God  of  pure 
manhood.'"'  I  tell  you  some  day  our  God  will  answer  by  fire, —  some  day, 
when  upon  the  altar  of  sacrifice  and  consecration  the  Christ-citizen  lays  his 
loyalty  to  self,  that  will  not  permit  an  alliance  with  wrong  for  personal  reward; 
loyalty  to  home,  that  will  not  consent  for  a  day  to  postpone  protecting  it  from 
its  greatest  foe  by  promise  of  immunity  from  questionable  ills;  loyalty  to 
country,  that  will  decline  to  permit  the  Stars  and  Stripes  to  float  over  and  pro- 
tect a  liquor  saloon;  loyalty  to  God,  that  will  subrogate  everything  to  his 
honor  and  glory.  Then  will  come  sweeping  down  from  his  holy  mountain  the 
fire  of  his  glory  and  power  ;  their  sacrifice  will  be  accepted,  and  the  bewildered, 
condemned,  false  prophets  will  be  swallowed  up  in  another  Kishon,  and  the 
land  will  be  refreshed  by  the  rains  of  his  grace  and  blessing. 

The  call  to  you,  as  present  duty,  is  to  array  yourself  with  the  Elijahs,  even 
though  the  crown  may  be  small.  And  this  is  a  call  of  ownership ;  ye  are  bought 
with  a  price,  precious,  single  standard,  full  weight  and  fineness  in  the  circulat- 
ing medium  of  heaven,  even  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  purchase 
includes  your  citizenship,  for  Paul  says,  "Our  citizenship  is  in  heaven." 
Imagine  the  citizenship  of  some  of  us  in  heaven!  —  its  material  manufactured 
in  240,000  saloons,  held  together  by  tariff  and  silver,  lined  with  broken 
hearts,  bound  with  blood  money,  padded  with  lost  spirits,  and  worn  in  the 
name  of  party  fealty,  and,  thus  clad,  made  to  parade  Jerusalem  Avenue  in  the 
New  Paradise  under  the  inspecting  eyes  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  Paul,  Silas,  Ste- 
phen, John,  and  the  thousands  of  those  who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

Endeavorers,  I  have  not  improved  this  opportunity  if  I  have  not  brought 
your  conscience  face  to  face  with  a  duty  as  great  as  lay  before  Moses  when  he 
stood  by  the  burning  bush,  as  weighty  as  rested  upon  Joshua  on  the  banks  of 
the  Jordan,  as  real  as  fell  upon  David  when  the  king's  crown  pressed  his  brow, 
as  solemn  as  burdened  the  cross-ladened  Christ  as  he  toiled  unsupported  up 
Calvary's  hill.  It  is  a  duty  of  standing  in  the  political  market-place  of  this  na- 
tion in  the  ides  of  next  November  for  the  destruction  of  the  liquor  traffic.  It 
is  as  great  as  was  Moses's  duty,  for  it  means  the  freeing  of  a  great  people;  as 
weighty  as  was  Joshua's  duty,  for  it  means  the  conquest  of  a  great  power;  as 
real  as  was  David's  duty,  for  it  means  a  kingship  of  righteousness ;  and  as  solemn 
as  was  Christ's  duty,  for  it  is  a  part  of  the  plan  to  usher  in  his  kingdom. 

Now,  dear  friends,  a  word  of  warning  in  conclusion.  It  may  be  that  something 
which  has  been  or  will  be  said  here  to-night  has  filled  you  with  new  desires  and 
aspirations  after  political  righteousness,  but  you  rise  and  go  out  in  the  world, 
and  presently  the  devil,  or  one  of  his  emissaries,  will  catch  you  up  and  bear  you 
to  a  high  mountain  of  excitement.  He  will  show  you  all  the  kingdoms  of  pre- 
ferment and  power;  judgeships,  senatorships,  even  presidencies,  will  pass  in 
review  before  you.  A  land  stacked  with  gold  and  silver,  where  money  is  as 
plenty  as  water,  will  be  made  to  appear  before  you.  A  country  so  protected 
that  you  can't  see  over  the  walls,  and  all  within  them  are  dwelling  in  palaces,  is 


132  Official  Report  of  the 

reviewed  before  your  vision,  and  the  devil  will  tell  you,  "  All  these  things  will  I 
give  you,"  if  next  November  you  will  bow  at  the  nation's  altar  and,  with  ballot 
in  hand,  worship  me.  Don't  believe  him ;  he  always  was  a  liar,  and  he  never 
will  be  anything  else.  There  are  no  honors  for  you  that  will  compensate  foi 
dishonor  before  God.  There  is  no  plenty  for  this  country  while  we  continue  to 
worse  than  waste  $1,200,000,000  every  year;  and  there  can  be  no  universal  family 
happiness  while  it  is  true  that  a  million  besotted  wretches  are  staggering  out 
into  the  blackest  night  at  the  rate  of  120,000  per  year,  and  that  the  recruiting- 
stations  of  death  are  laying  hands  on  one  bright  boy  from  each  fifth  home 
every  year  to  keep  this  army  of  the  lost  full.  You  must  not  allow  a  drum-beat 
to  answer  for  the  voice  of  conscience,  nor  crowd  to  carry  you  with  them  to  do 
evil;  but,  as  did  thy  Master,  turn  thou  upon  the  political  devils,  who  are  all 
about  thee,  seeking  thy  life,  and  to  all  their  fair  promises  make  answer,  "  Thou 
shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  in  all  thy  ways ;  and  him  only,  and  at  all  times, 
shalt  thou  serve." 

After  Mr.  Castle's  address,  the  Rev.  F.  M.  Lamb  sang  a  solo,  which 
appealed  mightily  to  the  hearts  of  all. 

The  second  speaker  introduced  by  Mr.  Page  was  Rev.  Alexander 
Alison,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

Address  of  Rev.  Alexander  Alison,  D,D.,New  York  City. 

What  saith  the  Scripture?  "  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God."  If 
this  be  so  then  human  government  is  a  divine  appointment.  As  such  we 
must  give  it  honor  —  not  only  theoretically,  but  practically.  In  this  fair  land  of 
ours  citizenship  means  more  than  anywhere  else  on  earth.  We  have  here  the 
best  result,  defective  as  we  may  sometimes  think  it,  of  the  republican  idea; 
that  is,  a  government  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people." 

While  I  do  not  believe  that  a  "  form  "  of  government  is  the  all-essential  in 
matters  of  State  craft,  any  more  than  I  believe  that  Presbyterianism  or  any  other 
form  of  church  polity  is  essential  to  the  existence  of  the  "  body  of  Christ,"  — 
the  Church, —  yet  I  do  hold  that  our  form  of  government,  the  "republican,"  is 
the  one  which  most  nearly  conserves  the  rights  of  the  individual  as  well  as  the 
high  interest  of  the  masses.  But  a  government  of  this  kind  can  only  attain  its 
highest  operation  through  the  diffusion  of  general  knowledge  among  the  people 
as  to  its  /nodus  opcraiidi.  If  manhood  suffrage  shall  exercise  the  franchise, 
then  we  must  see  to  it  that  no  stone  is  left  unturned  that  twenty-one  years  of 
age  shall  find  tlie  individual  citizen  duly  qualified  to  put  in  practice  his  sover- 
eign rights.  What  is  such  a  doctrine  as  this  ?  It  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
the  carrying  into  the  State  the  instruction  of  the  children  in  patriotic  and  gov- 
ernmental principles.  This  is  a  fundamental  idea.  Under  such  a  regime  we 
begin  the  building  of  the  house  at  the  cellar. 

I,  for  one,  do  not  believe  that  the  country  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Philistines 
numerically.  For  instance,  I  do  not  accept  the  proposition  that  Romanism  is  so 
strong  in  this  country  that  it  dominates  our  rulers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  a 
good  deal  of  influence.  Why  is  this  the  case  ?  Is  it  because  the  papacy  is  in  the 
ascendency  here  ?  Not  at  all ;  the  Romish  communion  is  not  occupying  any  such 
position.  But  the  politicians  have  the  idea  that  the  Catholic  population  votes 
all  one  way.  While  this  is  not  altogether  true,  it  is  very  largely  true.  But  pol- 
iticians are  not  as  well  informed  as  they  ought  to  be  on  this  subject.  The  priest- 
hood is  politic  in  endeavoring  to  keep  up  the  impression  of  Rome's  influence. 

But  I  am  quite  certain  the  Catholic  vote,  so  called,  is  not  so  large  as  many 
politicians  believe.  The  priest  cannot  always  deliver  the  goods.  They  know 
this  themselves.  What  is  the  real  strength  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
the  United  States  ?  There  are  not  quite  ten  thousand  priests  in  the  whole  country. 
How  many  Protestant  ministers  are  there?  Over  one  hundred  thousand,  in  all 
the  evangelical  denominations.  Suppose  these  should  stand  together  for  good- 
citizenship  training  and  for  our  country's  governmental  interests ;  where  would 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  133 

the  power  of  the  one-tenth  represented  by  the  priesthood  be?  Shall  the  nine- 
tenths  be  governed  by  the  one-tenth?  Does  the  priest  have  more  influence  over 
his  communicant  than  the  average  Protestant  pastor?  I  deny  it.  History  has 
not  shown  it.  Evangelical  Christianity  must  ever  be  defensive.  It  must  not 
light  unless  it  has  to ;  but  when  it  does  stretch  forth  its  arm,  its  cry  must  ever 
be,  "  Death  rather  than  surrender." 

We  want  in  this  land  to  train  our  children  to  understand  that  no  religion  is 
worthy  of  the  name  that  does  not  unselfishly  stand  for  good  government  and 
patriotism.  We  have  dangers  in  this  land  of  ours  that  will  have  to  be  met  in 
the  future  by  stalwart  men  and  women.  Those  who  will  be  required  for  service 
will  be  those  only  who  have  but  one  sentiment  emblazoned  on  the  banner  under 
which  they  shall  march, —  "  For  God  and  native  land." 

We  have  evils  among  us  that  must  be  overcome.  The  American  saloon  will 
have  to  go  to  the  wall.  American  journalism  must  be  elevated  in  its  tone.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  editorial  sanctum  has  become  vitiated  by  reason  of  the  Sun- 
day-newspaper filth.  There  has  been  a  letting-down  all  along  the  line.  Where 
are  the  Horace  Greeleys  of  to-day?  Is  the  American  tribune  in  this  land  of 
ours  really  what  it  ought  to  be,  the  palladium  of  our  liberties  ?  If  not,  it 
should  be. 

It  rests  with  the  coming  generations  to  make  it  so.  I  have  great  hope  born 
in  my  soul  as  I  contemplate  the  magnitude  of  result  for  good  that  may  accrue 
from  the  movement  among  the  young  people  of  the  Christian  Church  which  is 
the  chief  characteristic  of  the  evening  of  this,  the  grandest  of  the  centuries,  and 
which  may  toll  the  death-knell  of  partisan  politics  and  political  demagoguery 
and  all  the  evils  that  have  retarded  not  only  our  progress  as  a  nation,  but  have 
been  tremendous  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  the  Gospel  chariot. 

Young  people,  arise  and  proclaim  yourselves  !  Let  not  the  Philistines  cap- 
ture the  camp  of  Israel!  Do  not  forget  your  strength,  your  power.  Remem- 
ber, if  you  please,  that  nothing  is  here  to  stay  which  God  disapproves.  The 
works  of  darkness,  both  in  Church  and  State,  must  come  to  naught. 

The  Old  Testament  history  is  full  of  illustrations  that  '•  it  is  not  by  might,  nor 
by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  that  victory  comes."  The  minority  al- 
ways won  in  the  wars  of  Israel  when  God  was  a  partner  in  the  struggle.  I  believe 
that  the  hosts  of  law  and  order  are  greater  in  our  country  than  the  converse. 
I  believe  we  are  in  the  majority.  But  it  matters  not.  Abraham  Lincoln  never 
spoke  more  truly  than  when  he  said,  "  He  who  is  in  a  minority  with  God  is  in 
the  majority."  Let  this  be  our  conviction  as  we  go  forth  with  the  one  cry, 
"  Our  country  for  Christ  and  the  Church." 

The  last  speaker  was  Mr.  Thomas  E.  Murphy,  the  well-known  leader 
of  reform  fights  in  New  York  City,  and  a  temperance  lecturer  of  world- 
wide renown.  Mr.  Murphy  is  a  great  favorite  with  Endeavorers  and 
has  spoken  before  at  International  Conventions.  We  regret  that  Mr. 
Murphy  did  not  supply  manuscript. 

New   York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  meeting  at  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  was  a 
great  success,  and  three  admirable  addresses  were  made  in  advocacy 
of  Christian  citizenship.  A  large  choir,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Page  Zimmerman,  rendered  the  musical  part  of  the  exercises  in  a  very 
spirited  and  pleasant  manner.  The  Rev.  Gilby  C.  Kelly,  D.D.,  of 
Birmingham,  Ala.,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  United  Society,  presided, 
and  after  the  choir  had  participated  in  a  service  of  song  he  introduced 
the  Rev.  G.  O.  Little,  of  Washington,  who  conducted  the  devotional 
exercises,  during  which  Mr.  Melville  D.  Hensey  rendered  in  excellent 
style,  "One  Sweetly  Solemn  Thought." 


134  Official  Report  of  the 

Dr.  Kelly  then  introduced  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening. 

Address  of  Rev.  D.  F.  McGill,  D.D.,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  to-night  upon  the  subject,  "  A  Christian  Citizenship 
Platform."  Such  a  platform  seems  to  be  needed.  For  the  same  reason  that  a 
society  has  its  constitution,  a  church. its  creed,  and  a  political  party  its  platform, 
the  Christian  citizen  needs  a  concise  statement  of  the  principle  and  policy  upon 
which  his  work  for  Christ  and  Church  and  State  is  to  be  done. 

A  Christian  citizen  is  a  man  who  enjoys  his  rights  and  privileges  and  per- 
forms his. duty  as  a  citizen  in  such  a  way  as  to  manifest  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and 
of  his  teachings.  And  yet,  without  a  more  definite  statement  than  that  afforded 
by  the  definition,  one's  duty  might  seem  to  be  just  a  little  vague,  as  when  over- 
anxious and  solicitous'parents  are  wont  to  enjoin  impressively  upon  their  chil- 
dren some  dozen  times  a  day  that  they  shall  "be  good,"  whatever  that  may 
mean.  Our  observation  has  been  that  it  means  anything,  or  little,  or  nothing, 
according  to  the  more  or  less  confused  or  vacant  condition  of  the  mind  of  the 
child.  And  as  we  have  heard  men  talking  fluently  of  this  new  movement 
among  the  Christian  Endeavor  hosts,  this  thing  that  we  call  "  Christian  citizen- 
ship," we  have  wondered  whether  most  men  have  a  much  more  definite  idea  of 
its  significance  than  this,  —  that  it  just  means  being  good,  or,  perhaps,  being 
goody-goody.  What  does  it  mean  }  If  Christian  citizenship  is  of  the  Lord,  then 
its  platform  ought  to  be  found  in  the  Bible.  I  am  persuaded  that  it  is  to  be  found 
there.  Peter  and  John  had  been  speaking  boldly  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  working  miracles.  The  priests  and  sadducees,  being  displeased,  commanded 
them  that  they  should  speak  no  more  in  his  name.  The  answer  of  the  apostles 
was,  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than 
unto  God,  judge  ye."  That  was  the  spirit  of  Christian  citizenship  cropping  out. 
These  men  were  beginning  to  feel  that  they  were  apostles  first  and  citizens 
afterward ;  so  they  went  back  to  their  work.  They  wrought  signs  and  won- 
ders. Multitudes  were  healed  and  multitudes  were  saved.  The  apostles  were 
arrested  and  cast  into  prison.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  opened  the  prison  doors 
and  said,  "Go  forth  and  preach."  Again  they  are  arrested  and  brought  before 
the  council.  Again  they  are  threatened  and  examined  by  the  angry  council. 
Their  answer  is,  "  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men."  Noble  words  !  That 
was  the  bugle-blast  for  a  conflict  that  has  never  ceased  and  that  will  continue 
until  every  citizen  shall  be  a  Christian  citizen  and  every  nation  a  Christian 
nation.  A  Christian  citizenship  platform  in  seven  words  !  In  seven  thousand 
words  it  could  not  have  been  improved  upon.  If  it  is  not  a  gold  platform,  it  is 
a  platform  of  pure  gold.  If  it  is  not  a  silver  platform,  it  contains  that  the  mer- 
chandise of  which  is  better  than  silver.  If  it  is  not  a  broad-gauge  platform,  it 
is  a  broad  platform.  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men.  Christian  Endeav- 
orers,  I  submit  to  you  that  one  who,  as  a  Christian,  marches  under  the  banner 
of  King  Jesus,  and  who  takes  for  his  motto,  "  Whose  I  am  and  whom  I  serve," 
ought  to  be  most  willing  and  happy  to  stand  as  a  citizen  upon  such  a  platform 
as  this. 

The  adoption  of  a  platform  supposes  a  conflict.  The  two  great  political 
parties  of  our  country  have  just  put  forth  their  declaration  of  principles,  and  the 
conflict  is  on.  The  apostles  declared  their  position  in  seven  emphatic  words, 
and  the  conflict  was  on.  With  them  it  was  a  question  of  principle  or  policy,  of 
duty  or  expediency,  of  singularity  or  popularity;  and  as  the  same  conflict  goes 
on  to-day,  the  same  alternatives  are  presented  to  every  one  of  us.  Principle  or 
policy,  duty  or  expediency,  singularity  or  popularity, —  which  shall  it  be?  Our 
platform  will  decide  every  question  for  us.  We  must  obey  God  rather  than 
men. 

All  Christians  claim  to  be  Christian  citizens.  There  is  not  a  single  voice 
from  the  Church  against  Christian  citizenship.  But  let  a  man  examine  himself. 
Am  I  standing  squarely  upon  the  platform  of  the  apostles?  Do  I  refer  every 
question  to  the  will  of  God?  Do  I  live  and  act  and  speak  and  vote  as  would 
the  Son  of  God  himself,  if  he  were  in  my  place,  a  citizen  of  this  free  country? 


FiftccntJi  hitcmational  Convention.  135 

Political  parties  press  their  claims  upon  us.  They  point  to  their  records,  and 
remind  us  of  the  principles  for  which  they  have  stood  and  of  the  services 
which  they  have  rendered  the  individual  and  the  nation.  They  give  us  their 
promise  for  the  future  and  declare  their  policy,  and  ask  us  for  our  support. 
And  this  is  right.  We  are  not  here  to  dispute  the  claim  made  by  any  party,  or 
to  cast  reproach  upon  any  party.  We  only  want  to  find  a  platform  and  a 
straightforward,  consistent  policy  for  every  Christian  citizen.  Let  it  be  sup- 
posed that  every  point  in  every  platform  of  a  political  party  is  well  taken  and 
that  every  statement  made  is  true.  God  also  has  his  claims  upon  us  ;  and  these 
are  immeasurably  greater.  There  are  those  who  have  a  lively  appreciation  of 
the  blessings  of  a  protective  tariff.  The  Christian  citizen  will  be  willing  to  ad- 
mit, however,  that  these  are  not  to  be  compared  to  the  blessings  of  a  protective 
Providence.  Political  parties  are  wont  to  hold  themselves  responsible  for  our 
blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Even  these,  however,  are  not  to  be  com- 
pared to  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  for  which  we  are  indebted 
only  to  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  It  may  be  freely  admitted  that 
political  parties,  by  the  wisdom  of  their  principles  and  policies,  have  done  much 
to  promote  the  welfare  and  increase  the  wealth  of  our  country; — not  so  much, 
though,  as  God  has  done  by  his  free  grants  of  rain  and  dew  and  sunlight  and 
heat,  to  the  value  of  untold  billions  of  dollars.  And  when  to  these  we  add  the 
spiritual  blessings  whose  value  can  be  estimated  only  by  the  price  that  was  paid 
for  them,  surely  we  are  ready  to  admit  that  we  are  under  obligation  to  obey 
God  rather  than  men. 

But  what  will  our  Christian  citizenship  platform  require  of  us  ?  What  effect 
will  it  have  upon  the  life  and  conduct  of  the  men  who  stand  upon  it  'i  The  work 
of  reforming  the  world  has  been  committed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  his 
people,  to  be  carried  forward  in  his  name  and  according  to  his  will.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  Christian  citizen  must  be  a  reformer.  It  is  ju^t  at  this  point 
that  many  who  claim  to  be  Christian  citizens  become  discouraged.  To  be  a 
reformer — what  does  that  mean?  It  means  hard  work.  It  means  lighting  against 
the  current.  It  means  to  be  called  a  crank,  it  may  be  ;  a  Puritan,  a  fanatic,  a 
friend  of  the  Blue  Laws.  But  it  means,  also,  loyalty  to  Christ,  who  was  himself 
a  reformer,  and  wlio  would  be  one  if  he  were  here  to-day.  Bad  bills  become 
laws  in  our  State  legislatures  by  the  energy,  patience,  and  persistence  of 
bad  men.  Thus  are  our  laws  of  marriage  frequently  assailed,  the  Sabbath 
destroyed,  the  school  system  undermined,  the  saloon  enthroned  and  relieved  of 
restraint,  and  government,  municipal  and  state,  converted  into  a  vast  machine 
for  collecting  revenues  and  disbursing  them  in  the  interests  of  the  powerful  and 
unscrupulous.  How  shall  these  evils  be  remedied,  if  not  by  the  energy, 
patience,  persistence,  and  self-denial  of  good  men,  who  stand  upon  tlie  platform 
of  the  apostles?  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men.  Influential  Christian 
legislators  must  be  chosen  by  Christian  citizens.  All  legislative  matter  must 
be  thoroughly  and  rigidly  inspected  by  men  who  are  capable  of  judging  of  its 
moral  effect.  Moral  legislation  must  be  secured,  if  at  all,  through  t!ie  efforts 
of  good  men,  Christian  citizens,  who  believe  that  not  evil,  but  Christ,  has  come 
to  stay.  If  you  are  not  willing  to  be  a  reformer  for  Christ's  sake,  do  not  call 
yourself  a  Christian  citizen. 

A  political  party  that  gets  on  the  wrong  side  of  any  moral  question  forfeits 
its  claim  to  the  support  of  a  Christian  citizen.  Jesus  Christ,  whose  we  are  and 
whom  we  serve,  asks  that  we  shall  be  found  on  the  right  side  of  every  moral 
question,  and  that  by  our  lives,  our  voices,  our  influence,  and  our  votes  we  shall 
serve  always  and  only  one  Master.  More  than  one  master  we  can  not  serve; 
and  when  the  question  is  one  of  obedience  to  God  or  man,  our  Christian  citi- 
zenship platform  would  seem  to  make  our  course  very  clear  indeed.  The 
Christian  citizen  must  declare  eternal  warfare  against  every  foe  of  God  and 
man.  He  who  belongs  to  God  must  not,  can  not,  belong  to  any  party.  He 
must  not,  can  not,  vote  with  any  party  for  that  of  which  his  one  Master  disap- 
proves. This  is  what  Christian  citizenship  means.  It  means  having  ojic  Ma.s- 
ter,  belonging  to  God,  voting  for  Christ.  In  Paul's  letter  to  the  Philippians, 
there  is  a  sentence  in  the  margin  of  the  Revised  Version  which  reads,  "  I3ehave 


136  Official  Report  of  the 

as  a  citizen,  wortliily  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ."  Christian  citizenship  again! 
Government  is  instituted  by  God  himself.  He  has  ordained  the  end  for  which 
it  is  instituted  and  the  purpose  which  it  is  to  serve.  He  has  declared  the  char- 
acter of  the  men  who  ought  to  be  chosen  to  carry  out  his  ideas  of  government. 
How, then,  shall  one  behave  as  a  citizen  worthily  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.?  By 
using  his  citizenship  so  as  to  serve  the  purpose  which  God  has  in  government. 
Speaking  only  a  few  days  ago  to  a  State  senator  on  the  subject  of  some  pro- 
posed anti-Sabbath  legislation,  he  said  in  his  effort  to  defend  himself,  "  Even 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  could  not  please  everybody.  How  can  I  be  expected  to 
do  so?"  It  was  not  difficult  to  answer,  "  It  is  quite  true  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  did  not  please  everybody,  but  he  did  always  please  his  Father  in  heaven ; 
and  the  public  official  who  always  tries  to  do  that  will  never  have  occasion  to 
be  ashamed  or  afraid  of  his  record."  To  this  we  may  add  in  this  presence 
that  the  Christian  voter,  who  casts  his  ballot  for  Christ  rather  than  for  any 
party,  will  not  need  to  be  ashamed  or  afraid  of  his  record  in  the  day  when  the 
fire  shall  try  every  man's  worth  and  every  party's  platform,  of  what  sort  it  is. 

We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men.  Then  what  shall  be  our  attitude  to- 
ward the  saloon  and  the  liquor  traffic?  Attitude  is  the  position  appropriate  to 
the  expression  of  some  feeling.  It  indicates  opinion  or  purpose  regarding  any- 
thing. What  position  have  we  Christian  citizens  assumed  that  gives  expression 
to  our  feeling  and  purposeregarding  this  institution  that  has  done  evil  and  only 
evil  all  the  days  of  its  life?  You  have  never  been  in  a  saloon  in  your  life! 
That  is  a  magnificent  record,  but  it  is  not  an  attitude.  You  are  a  total  abstainer. 
So  far,  your  attitude  is  only  one  of  indifference.  You  are  leaving  the  saloon 
alone  with  the  expectation  that  it  will  leave  you  alone.  You  may  discover  some 
day  that  you  have  been  terribly  deceived.  I  know  a  Christian  mother  who 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  a  saloon  except  to  hate  it;  but  it  took  hold  of 
her  only  son  and  made  him  at  times  a  demon  and  finally  a  sot,  until  in  her  agony 
she  cried  out,  "  Why  did  God  not  take  him  from  my  arms  when  he  was  an  inno- 
cent babe  ?  "  I  know  a  father  who  never  did  anything  for  or  against  the  saloon ; 
but  it  degraded  his  son  and  debauched  his  daughter  and  ruined  his  home. 
There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  left  the  saloon  alone  only  to  dis- 
cover that  the  saloon  would  not  leave  them  alone.  I  think  this  has  been  the 
great  mistake  of  the  Christian  world.  It  has  left  the  saloon  too  severely  alone. 
It  has  not  come  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.  Jesus  Christ 
did  not  leave  evil  alone.  We  can  not  and  be  true  to  him.  We  must  obey  God 
rather  than  men.  All  that  evil  asks  is  to  be  let  alone.  The  devils  made  that 
prayer  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  he  did  not  grant  them  their  request. 

What  shall  be  our  attitude  towards  the  saloon  and  the  liquor  traffic?  I  pray 
God  that  it  may  be  one  of  open  and  uncompromising  hostility.  Nay,  that  is 
God's  prayer  to  us.  We  have  been  heedless  and  indifferent  too  long,  while  this 
great  enemy  of  God  and  man  has  entrenched  itself  in  the  political  and  commercial 
fife  of  the  nation,  until  many  are  ready  to  affirm  that  the  saloon  has  come  to 
stay.  If  that  were  true,  it  would  not  relieve  us  of  our  obligation  to  wage 
unceasing  warfare  against  it.  Disease  has  come  to  stay,  and  we  fight  against 
that.  Poverty  has  come  to  stay,  and  we  fight  against  that.  But  it  is  not  true 
of  intemperance,  or  of  Sabbath  desecration,  or  of  impurity,  or  of  any  other 
evil,  that  it  has  come  to  stay.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  come  to  stay ;  Jesus  Christ 
has  come  to  stay;  the  kingdom  of  God  has  come  to  stay;  and,  thank  God,  we 
believe  that  Christian  citizenship  has  come  to  stay  until  every  one  who  bears 
the  name  of  Christ  shall  stand  upon  the  platform  of  the  apostles,  and  shall 
practise  in  his  life  that  which  he  professes  with  his  lips,—  that  we  ought  to  obey 
God  rather  than  men. 

After  the  choir  had  rendered  in  a  spirited  manner  the  hymn, 
"Onward,  Christian  Soldiers,"  the  chairman  said  that  as  a  Southern 
man  it  gave  him  special  pleasure  to  introduce  a  young  man  of  a  race 
for  whom  the  Southern  people  entertain  only  the  kindest  feelings  ;  in 
whom  they  believe,  and  in  whom  they  repose  great  confidence.     He 


FiftccntJi  International  Conventioji.  137 

then  introduced  Mr.  W.  L.  Board,  of  Wilberforce,  O.,  a  young  colored 
man  who  has  attained  quite  a  prominent  position  as  an  orator. 

Address  of  Mr.  W.  L.  Board,  Wilberforce,  O. 

What  to  do  and  how  to  do  it  are  questions  that  puzzle  temperance  reform- 
ers. 1  am  glad  that  we  meet  to-night  not  as  Prohibitionists,  not  as  local 
optionists,  not  as  high-license  men,  not  as  government  regulationists,  but  as 
Christian  Endeavorers,  seeking  a  better  tone  of  Christian  citizensliip,  and 
countenancing  nothing  that  bars  the  road  to  such  an  end.  To  whatever  faction 
of  temperance  workers  we  belong,  we  oppose  the  rum  traffic.  Let  us  then  lay 
aside  our  prejudices,  forego  our  preferences,  and  stand  together  for  principle, 
and  not  method.  The  temperance  workers  have  been  mistaking  too  long 
method  for  principle.  We  have  already  wasted  too  much  time  hurling  missiles 
at  each  other,  instead  of  joining  in  one  mighty  band  and  concentrating  our  fire 
upon  the  enemy.  Let  us  surrender  our  preferences  and  take  hold  of  the  method 
that  promises  most  unity  and  efficiency.  I  offer  no  apology  when  I  present  for 
your  consideration  the  method  pursued  by  the  Anti-Saloon  League.  It  is  a 
temperance  method  about  which  I  know  most,  having  been  associated  with  the 
Ohio  Anti-Saloon  League.  It  is  interdenominational  and  omnipartisan.  Its 
methods  are  so  arranged  that  all  good  Republicans,  good  Democrats,  good 
Prohibitionists,  good  Populists, —  good  citizens  all  may  join  issue  against  a  com- 
mon foe,  without  giving  up  their  party  affiliations.  How  can  we  help  the  cause 
of  good  citizenship?  By  being  practical  citizens.  By  rallying  to  the  primaries 
and  seeing  to  it  that  dishonest  boodlers  are  not  nominated  and  elected  to 
administer  law  in  the  interests  of  saloon-keepers. 

I  am  not  advocating  that  every  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  every  good  citi- 
zen, should  become  a  politician,  but  I  do  advocate  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
good  man  and  woman  to  go  into  politics.  There  is  as  much  difference  between 
going  into  politics  and  becoming  a  politician  as  between  a  patriot  and  a  poli- 
tician. The  one  wishes  to  do  all  he  can  for  his  country;  the  other  wants  the 
country  to  do  all  it  can  for  him.  I  have  endeavored  to  impress  upon  you  some- 
thing of  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  American  citizenship  ;  I  have  pointed  out 
to  you  its  greatest  living  foe,  intemperance;  I  have  dared  to  suggest  to  you  a 
method  to  assuage  this  evil.  If  you  remember  nothing  more,  do  not  forget  that 
the  success  of  the  temperance  cause  lies  in  unity  of  action  and  purpose.  Let 
differences  be  compromised  for  principle.  Let  all  the  temperance  squads  unite 
and  form  a  company,  the  companies  a  battalion,  the  battalions  a  regiment,  the 
regiments  a  brigade,  and  finally  uniting  in  one  grand  army  of  Christian  citizens, 
let  us  go  forth  to  battle,  as  one  has  said,  "  not  to  enslave,  but  to  free  ;  not  to 
destroy,  but  to  save;  not  for  conquest,  but  for  conscience;  not  for  ourselves, 
only,  but  for  every  land  and  every  race." 

Then  will  the  Church  awaken  to  the  awful  chorus  of  an  army  of  500,000 
hopeless  drunkards  in  America  crying  to  her  eternal  shame ;  then  will  politics, 
journaHsm,  society,  and  religion  see  themselves  as  cringing  slaves  before  the 
crime-besmeared  Ijanner  of  King  Alcohol;  then  will  that  sense  of  right  and 
duty  inherent  in  the  American  people  take  its  proper  place  in  the  affairsof 
state,  and  demand  of  legislation  the  enactment  of  just,  practical,  and  effective 
temperance  measures. 

Another  hymn  was  sung  by  the  choir,  and  then  the  chairman  intro- 
duced Mr.  S.  E.  Nicholson,  of  Kokomo,  Ind.  Mr.  Nicholson  is  a 
member  of  the  Indiana  legislature,  and  "father  "  of  the  famous  "  Nich- 
olson Bill,"  and  has  done  much  effective  work  in  the  promotion  of 
Christian  citizenship. 

Address  of  Hon.  S.  E.  Nicholson,  Kokomo,  Ind. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  theme  to-night  I  shall  try  to  avoid  technical  defini- 
tions and  minute  and  unimportant  distinctions,  that  only  tickle  the  fancy  of 


138  Official  Report  of  the 

the  fastidious  critic,  but  I  shall  endeavor,  rather,  to  utilize  the  enthusiasm  of 
this  occasion  as  an  overpowering  agency  in  the  busy  humdrum  work  of  the 
days  to  come. 

Were  we  to  follow  the  close  framing  of  the  pessimistic  reformer  and  see 
only  the  dark  side  of  American  politics  to-day,  we  might  be  sure  that  there  is  a 
glaring  paradox  in  the  statement  of  my  subject,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that 
there  is  some  evidence  to  warrant  this  belief;  but  when  our  eyes  are  lifted, 
and  we  behold  the  bright  dawning  of  the  present  civic  revival;  and  see  a  new 
type  of  citizenship,  directed  by  a  Christian  conscience  and  energized  by  the 
new  life-blood  of  young,  consecrated.  Christian  hearts,  we  may  dare  hope  for  the 
future,  that  through  the  untiring  devotion  of  patriotic  Christian  Endeavorers, 
Christian  citizenship  will  soon  be  the  dominant  force  in  the  politics  of  the 
nation. 

Civil  liberty  and  governmental  prosperity  are  based  in  a  special  sense  upon 
religious  liberty  and  the  development  of  righteous  ideas. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  Christianity  is  an  important  factor  in  human 
development,  but  in  all  justice  it  must  be  claimed  that  human  government, 
whether  in  the  Church,  society,  family,  or  the  State,  is  a  failure  except  it  be 
measured  by  the  infallible  standard  of  absolute  right  as  found  in  the  Word  of 
God.  It  was  undoubtedly  apart  of  the  original  divine  plan  that  the  people  of 
earth,  whose  interests  were  largely  common,  should  be  associated  together  in 
separate  individual  nations,  governed  by  rules  and  regulations  peculiar  to  their 
needs  and  conditions,  and  that  these  nations  should  just  as  truly  obey  the  laws 
of  God  as  the  individual  members  of  these  nations  themselves. 

Infidelity  may  attack  Christianity  with  all  the  subtle  arguments  that  the 
natural  mind  can  command;  scoffers  may  pour  out  their  venom  of  wrath  upon 
it ;  men  may  try  to  freeze  it  out  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  cold  intellectuality ;  yet 
still  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  flows  onward  in  a  mighty,  consuming  stream 
that  purifies  the  heart,  directs  the  destinies  of  its  willing  votaries,  and  reveals 
to  mankind  a  conception  of  the  ideal  standard  of  truth,  found  in  the  Gospel 
preached  two  thousand  years  ago.  In  all  authority  and  legislation  there  must 
be  a  certain  vitalizing  force  that  gives  energy  and  strength  to  the  creation. 
For  centuries  men  tried  to  find  this  in  a  system  of  caste  that  gave  regulation 
to  society;  then  in  an  aristocracy  that  sought  obeisance  from  the  overburdened 
masses  ;  later  on,  in  an  absolute  monarchy  that  would  rule  by  the  innate  power 
of  command  ;  and  finally,  in  a  universal  suffrage  and  freedom  of  conscience 
that  placed  men  on  an  equality  in  government,  church,  and  society.  Govern- 
ments are  slow  to  learn  the  truth  that  a  system  laid  in  unrighteousness  is 
doomed  from  the  beginning.  Ever  since  the  law  came  thundering  upon  Mount 
Sinai,  and  the  Decalogue  proclaimed  the  human  duty  to  God  and  to  fellow  man, 
there  has  existed  a  spirit  and  a  force  that  ought  to  become  the  centralized 
idea  of  every  organization.  And  any  nation  that  either  in  the  beginning  or  in 
any  subsequent  combination  of  elements  fails  to  recognize  the  potency  of 
Christian  citizenship,  measured  in  terms  of  the  law  of  absolute  right,  may  know 
that,  as  surely  as  there  is  a  God  in  heaven,  .sooner  or  later  it  must  fall,  by  the 
very  imperfection  of  its  building  and  the  decay  of  its  central  doctrines. 

We  have  reached  a  critical  period  in  American  history.  The  question  of 
supreme  importance  is,  Shall  our  government  be  maintained  in  its  original 
purity  and  for  its  original  purposes?  In  short,  it  is  the  question  whether  gov- 
ernment shall  be  prostituted  to  serve  the  selfish  ends  of  the  depraved  and  the 
ignorant  and  the  vicious  of  our  country.  To-day  there  have  entered  into  our 
national  and  social  life  a  great  many  ideas  that  are  altogether  foreign  to  the 
original  purposes  of  the  American  government. 

Anarchism  and  socialism  are  not  nearly  so  threatening  as  that  the  patriotic 
feeling  of  the  native  citizen  may  be  stifled.  With  all  due  sympathy  for  the 
reformer  to-day.  I  ask,  What  need  is  there  to  waste  centuries  of  energy  in 
revolutionizing  sentiment  and  laws,  if  every  vestige  of  the  original  nationality 
is  to  be  obliterated  ?  What  hope  is  there  in  demanding  any  reform,  when  there 
are  so  many  people  —  apparently  good  citizens—  ready  to  join  the  immoral  or 
the   law-defying  elements,  either  for  the  sake  of  party  domination,  or  under 


FifteentJi  Itiicrtiational  Convention.  139 

the  guise  of  allowing  personal  liberty  ?  In  our  own  citizen  life  we  need 
a  revival  of  patriotic  sentiment.  We  need  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  cesspool  of 
wrangling  where  demagogues  hold  sway.  We  need  to  call  a  halt  upon  the 
introduction  of  alien  parasites,  and  place  such  restrictions  that  the  United  States 
will  no  longer  be  the  dumping-ground  for  the  offscourings  of  the  world.  We 
need  to  check  the  legislators  as  they  play  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  new-made 
citizens  to  perpetuate  themselves  in  political  ascendency. 

The  saving  grace  of  our  own  Republic,  and  the  beacon  light,  to  guide  the 
world,  lies  in  the  complete  recognition  of  Christianity  as  the  central  fact  of 
authority.  Citizenship  must  be  measured  by  this  absolute  standard  of  truth,  or 
be  relegated  to  the  rear  for  incompetency  and  unavailability. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  difficulties  that  menace  the  civic  and  social 
reformer  of  to-day.  It  is  easier  to  suggest  the  remedy  than  to  apply  it.  But 
the  task  is  not  an  impossible  one.  Christian  energy  and  wisdom  applied  to  the 
machinery  of  government  is  the  panacea  for  every  national  ill. 

Happily  the  day  is  past,  or  at  least  is  passing  very  rapidly,  when  a  still  and 
a  deadened  conscience  is  the  price  of  party  loyalty.  And  I  declare  to  you  the 
fact  to-night  that  they  are  the  best  party  men  who  stand  for  the  right  and  who 
stand  for  the  best  interests  of  the  people.  And  as  a  partisan  myself,  I  dare  to 
assert  that  no  party  in  this  country  is  worthy  of  success  which  must  achieve 
it  at  the  cost  of  degraded  manhood  and  by  pandering  to  the  low  and  the  vicious 
elements  of  our  citizenship.  I  declare  here  to-night  that  whenever  the  Chris- 
tian voters  of  this  century  come  to  the  point  of  decision,  when  they  are  known 
to  be  eternally  and  forever  against  any  man  or  class  of  men  who  favor  the  non- 
enforcement  of  law  or  the  perpetuation  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  are  willing  to 
register  their  protests  at  the  point  of  greatest  effect,  — the  ballot-box,  —  as  do 
the  liberal  elements,  then  will  we  not  only  see  conditions  changed,  but  the  day 
will  be  hastened  when  Christian  citizenship  enthroned  by  the  franchises  of  a 
free  people  will  be  sought  after  as  the  only  potent  agency  in  American  politics. 
It  will  only  be  when  Christian  men,  whose  thought  has  been  quickened  by  the 
divine  life  and  energized  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  elevated  to  places  of  trust  and 
honor,  and  lauded  as  heroes  by  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the  Republic,  that 
Christian  citizenship  will  have  reached  the  acme  of  its  claims,  and  the  govern- 
ment will  become  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  a  Christian  government.  Christian 
Endeavorers,  the  key  to  the  situation  is  with  you  and  your  Christian  co-workers. 
By  your  honest  battle  for  a  better  citizenship  Christian  conscience  now  passes 
current  at  the  political  exchange,  and  honest  effort  is  redeemed  at  face  value  in 
the  majority  of  political  conventions  throughout  the  country.  In  every  State 
and  city  and  village  and  hamlet  the  people  are  organizing  for  civic  righteous- 
ness. 

Catholicism  may  threaten  religious  toleration,  and  infidelity  may  mock  at 
the  shrine  of  holiness,  but  let  us  hope  that  the  spirit  that  revolted  against 
European  superstition  and  made  a  new  land  the  birthplace  of  freedom  will  in 
time  again  cause  complete  national  recognition  of  the  Supreme  authority,  and 
that  the  fellowship  of  saints  will  make  Christian  thought  the  basis  of  a  pure 
government. 

Tent  Washington. 

Tent  Washington  was  one  of  the  popular  resorts  for  Christian  En- 
deavorers on  Thursday  evening.  By  half-past  seven  o'clock  the  space 
covered  by  the  canvas  was  filled,  and  the  sides  of  the  tent  were  lifted  • 
so  that  the  throng  that  had  gathered  but  could  not  be  seated  might 
join  in  the  services  from  their  standing-places  outside.  The  delegates 
did  not  wait  for  the  leader  to  start  the  singing.  A  band  of  Marylanders 
started  "  My  Maryland,"  and  then  one  after  another  of  the  popular 
hymns  of  the  Society  were  started  and  joined  in  by  the  vast  assemblage. 

The  exercises  were  opened  by  a  service  of  song  under  the  direction 


140  Official  Report  of  the 

of  Mr.  P.  P.  Bilhorn,  of  Chicago.    Devotional  exercises  were  then  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  J.  J.  Muir,  D.D.,  of  Washington. 

Ex-Postmaster-General  John  Wanainaker,  of  Philadelphia,  was  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  evening. 

Address  of  Hon.  John  Wanamaker,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

CJu-istian  Endca^'or  Comrades:  —  Our  meeting  at  Washington,  the  greatest  of 
American  cities,  and  upon  the  grounds  of  the  nation,  is  in  the  blessed  hope  of 
another  meeting  on  the  broader  common  grounds  of  faith  by  the  grace  of  God 
in  the  only  city  that  is  greater  than  any  earthly  city. 

This  country  has  never  had  but  one  Lincohi  and  one  Grant  and  one  Clark. 
In  the  order  of  Providence,  each  came  at  the  time  of  a  particular  need  to  fulfil 
a  sacred  trust.  General  Clark  heads  and  commands  the  largest  organized  army 
the  world  has  ever  known.  It  bears  no  sectional  banners,  yet  it  constitutes  the 
majority  of  the  truest  citizenship  of  the  land.  It  is  the  young  undergrowth  of 
the  best  manhood  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  the  hope  of  the  nation  in  this 
strange,  but  not  hopeless,  time. 

I  saw  a  fortnight  ago  in  Boston,  cut  in  letters  of  marble  high  up  under  the 
outside  cornice  of  the  stately  and  matchless  Public  Library,  these  words: 
"  This  Commonwealth  regards  the  education  of  the  people  as  the  safeguard  of 
liberty  and  order."  Neither  the  magnificent  bay,  nor  the  great  avenues  of  splen- 
did houses  and  churches,  not  even  Boston  Common,  left  such  an  impression 
upon  me  as  that  noble  legend  of  our  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

Well  may  the  nation  to-day,  and  not  for  the  first  time,  follow  again  the  lead 
of  Massachusetts,  adopting  a  national  creed  to  read :  This  nation,  throughout 
its  forty-six  commonwealths,  insists  on  the  education  of  the  people  as  the  best 
safeguard  of  liberty  and  order. 

In  the  brightening  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century,  with  the  light  of  the 
world's  long  struggle  shining  clear  and  steady  upon  us,  the  lamps  of  science 
and  philosophy  and  experience  reveal  the  distinct  fact  that  the  elevation  and 
happiness  of  the  people  necessitate  more  than  the  development  of  the  intel- 
lect. The  largest  temple  in  the  world  to-day  is  not  the  Parthenon  of  Athens, 
once  dedicated  to  philosophy,  but  a  church  for  the  worship  of  Jesus  Christ, 
named  after  Peter,  the  apostle,  who  one  day  denied  the  Lord,  who  was  without 
an  open  friend  on  all  the  earth.  That  Christ,  who  never  carried  anything  in 
his  hands  but  nails,  is  conquering  the  world  —  not  by  any  sword  or  force,  but  with 
his  appeal  to  the  heart  as  well  as  the  head.  And  I  submit  to  you  that  this  is 
the  proper  time  and  place  for  the  two  millions  of  Endeavorers  of  the  United 
States  to  send  out  from  the  capital  of  the  nation  a  declaration :  We  believe 
solemnly  and  affirm  that  the  safety  and  advancement  of  the  people  requires  not 
only  the  training  of  the  mind  but  the  education  of  the  heart  in  knowledge  of 
the  Word  of  God,  which  is  the  only  rule  of  life  for  the  permanent  happiness  of 
the  human  race. 

I  think  the  enthusiastic  two  per  cent  of  our  membership  in  convention 
assembled  will  vote  aye  on  such  a  deliverance  at  this  time,  and  I  think  I  hear 
from  all  over  the  land  the  rising  of  a  voice  louder  than  the  voice  of  many  waters, 
like  the  thunder  of  the  summer  sky,  sending  up  the  shout  of  approval  from  the 
hearts  of  the  ninety-eight  per  cent  of  loyal  members  not  here  who  desire  to 
stand  together  with  us  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth. 

Beloved  brethren,  it  remains  for  us  to  combine  the  intelligence,  influence,  and 
wisdom  of  the  young  manhood  of  the  time  to  work  out  the  destination  of  the 
nation.     It  will  require  patriotism  before  partisanship. 

The  wars  of  conflicting  ideas  sometimes  work  as  much  suffering  and  loss  to 
a  country  as  military  battles  on  sea  and  land.  It  behooves  us  to  patiently  mas- 
ter the  principles  of  finance  and  government  and  take  our  part  in  the  strife  by 
voice  and  vote,  not  in  the  interest  of  party  names,  but  of  Christian  citizenship. 

Each  man  must  judge  for  himself  where  and  how  he  can  do  his  best ;  but  let 
him  do  it.     Christian  Endeavor  is  not  simply  saying  over  texts  and  pledges  and 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  141 

holding  consecration  meetings.  It  is  doing  something.  If  I  could,  when  once 
a  year  occasion  required  it,  adjourn  a  consecration  meeting  to  the  town  meeting 
or  to  watch  over  and  take  a  proper  part  in  a  primary  election,  I  would  count  it 
both  practical  politics  and  practical  religion  to  do  so. 

The  political  world,  as  I  believe,  is  thus  far  only  highly  amused  at  the  talk- 
ative grumble  and  do-nothingness  of  churchmen,  young  and  old,  in  public 
affairs. 

I  was  once  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  one  summer  Sunday  afternoon,  with  per- 
haps a  dozen  friends,  sitting  under  the  trees  in  the  grounds  of  the  Rev.  Leonard 
Woolsey  Bacon,  then  the  American  minister  at  Geneva.  We  were  studying 
the  Sunday-school  lesson  leaf.  The  Hon.  Henry  P.  Haven,  of  Connecticut, 
was  in  the  chair.  We  were  all  startled  by  the  sound  of  a  gun  close  by,  and  its 
shot  came  rattling  down  from  leaf  to  leaf,  falling  on  the  gravel  walk.  Mr. 
Haven  said,  "  Well,  this  is  the  Lord's  Day,  and  this  is  the  Lord's  Book  we  have 
in  our  hands.  We  are  in  the  Lord's  hands  and  are  safe  from  harm."  Mr. 
Bacon  instantly  rose,  put  on  his  hat  and  started  off,  saying,  "  Well,  I  think  the 
Lord  wants  me  to  help  him  find  that  man  with  the  gun  and  warn  him  off." 

My  friends,  the  noise  in  the  air  around  us  suggests  that  the  Lord  wants  his 
people  to  help  him,  and  we  must  rise  up  straightway. 

In  the  hope  of  a  kingdom  of  heaven,  patriotism,  I  salute  you  this  day  and 
bid  you  Godspeed. 

The  first  speaker  introduced  M^as  Rev.  Howard  H.  Russell,  LL.D., 
of  Columbus,  O.  Dr.  Russell  has  done  heroic  work  at  the  head  of 
the  Anti-Saloon  League  in  Ohio. 

Address  of  Rev.  Howard  H.  Russell,  LL.D.,  Columbus,  O. 

When  that  gallant  and  effective  saloon-fighter,  the  late  Hon.  John  B.  Finch, 
was  yet  a  boy,  he  saw  a  drunken  man  stagger  from  a  saloon  door  and  fall 
senseless  upon  the  street.  His  mother  pressed  her  boy's  hand  closer  and 
said,  "  Promise  me  that  you  will  never  touch  nor  taste  that  which  makes  men 
drunk."  "  I  never  will,"  said  the  boy ;  "  and  when  I  am  a  man  I  will  shut  these 
places  where  they  sell  it."  The  dauntless  young  people  of  America  have 
beheld  with  amazement  and  patriotic  shame  the  multiplied  horrors  of  poverty, 
disease,  and  crime  resulting  from  the  curse  of  drink,  and  they  have  registered, 
with  John  Finch,  the  holy  vow  that  they  will  close  these  places  where  they 
sell  it.  And  they  will  keep  that  covenant,  because  to  high  Christian  faith  and. 
heroic  Christian  Endeavor  nothing  is  impossible. 

Wherever  Christian  Endeavor  has  attacked  the  saloon  it  has  found  the 
spoils-politicians  entrenched  behind  the  screens.  The  anti-saloon  campaign  is, 
therefore,  a  war  in  which  organized  good  citizenship  moves  victoriously  upon 
the  fortifications  of  bad  citizenship.  I  am  hopeful  this  present  generation  of 
young  people  here  represented  will  in  time  abolish  the  liquor  traffic,  because  of 
the  conspicuous  and  honorable  part  which  you  have  borne  in  the  recent 
revival  of  civic  patriotism.  The  Young  People's  Societies  were  in  the 
van  during  the  World's  Fair  Sunday  campaign,  in  the  temperance  revivals 
in  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  Massachusetts,  and  other  States,  and  especially  in 
the  hot  municipal  conflicts  in  the  great  cities.  These  experiences  have  been  of 
untold  value  in  exposing  to  our  view,  as  never  before,  the  bad  character  of 
many  of  our  civil  officers  and  the  rottenness  of  municipal  management,  and 
have  aroused  a  deep  determination  to  enter  upon  and  co-operate  in  systematic, 
permanent,  and  effective  reform.  Christian  young  Americans  have  reached 
the  condition  of  mind  of  the  long-suffering  Quaker  who  had  been  assaulted  and 
grievously  maltreated.  Looking  up  from  where  he  lay  he  said,  "Thee  has 
broken  my  nose  and  kicked  me  down  stairs  and  broken  two  or  three  of  my  ribs, 
and  upon  my  word,  if  this  goes  on  much  longer  I  propose  to  take  some  notice 
of  it."  Allied  young  Christianity,  organized  to  promote  applied  religion  for 
the  individual  and  community,  has  learned  that  the  public  offices,  instead  of 
being  public  trusts,  sacredly  executed  for  the  public  weal,  are  too  often  con- 


142  Official  Report  of  the 

trolled  and  farmed  out  by  rings,  combines,  and  bosses;  and  we  will  take  some 
notice  of  it.  Bad  citizenship  wins  to-day  in  many  of  our  States  and 
municipalities  because  it  is  more  ready  than  good  citizenship  to  pay  the 
price  of  success.  Bad  citizenship  is  organized,  alert,  and  diligent  to  do  the 
necessary  things  to  secure  the  induction  into  civil  office  of  the  men  under  its 
control.  Good  citizenship,  on  the  other  hand,  will  permanently  win  when 
it  regularly  brings  to  the  primary  elections  and  the  polls  more  members  of 
the  dominant  parties,  acting  in  unison,  than  are  brought  to  the  same  primaries 
and  poles  by  bad  citizenship.  As  Josh  Billings  remarked,  "  We  shall  never 
have  an  honest  horse-race  until  we  have  an  honest  human  race  ;"  and  it  is  equally 
true  we  shall  never  have  honest  politics  until  honest  people  become  the  politi- 
cians and  control  political  affairs.  The  boss  must  be  supplanted  by  the  patri- 
otic good-citizenship  chairman,  who  is  in  the  work,  as  his  compatriots  are,  not 
for  boodle  nor  for  spoils,  but  for  the  sake  of  good  social  order. 

Good  citizenship  begins  its  practical  work  in  choosing  civil  officers,  as  bad 
citizenship  universally  does,  before  the  primary  election  is  held.  _  I  do  not 
mean  that  the  work  in  the  political  arena  is  to  supersede  educational  work 
and  public  sentiment  building;  and  the  organized  work  must  also  be  inter- 
partisan  or  omnipartisan.  I  now  come  more  particularly  to  the  liquor  traffic. 
The  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  here  find  a  common  foe  to  federate  against. 
All  the  great  denominations  are  with  us.  You  will  be  interested  to  know  that 
in  the  great  Methodist  denomination  the  presiding  elders  have  recently  united 
in  an  address  to  be  read  by  the  pastors  in  all  their  churches,  which  address 
has  been  signed  by  every  presiding  elder  in  Ohio  ;  and  this  address  appeals  to 
the  people  to  support  everywhere  the  Anti-Saloon  League  and  Haskell  Bill. 
This  unity  of  the  Methodists  characterizes  all  the  other  Protestant  denomi- 
nations. You  will  also  be  interested  to  know  that  the  great  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  wheeled  in  side  by  side  with  the  Protestant  Church  in  battle 
array. 

The  laws  are  enforced  as  they  never  have  been  before  in  the  history  of  the 
reform.  The  number  of  saloons  has  been  greatly  reduced.  For  five  years  be- 
fore the  league  was  formed  the  saloons  increased  over  400  per  year.  In  the 
last  two  years  the  number  has  been  reduced  over  400.  We  are  assured  we  are 
now  upon  the  right  track,  and  our  success  is  due  to  the  unification  of  the  people 
who  are  opposed  to  the  saloon.  We  need  in  this  campaign,  now  spreading  into 
the  other  States,  the  cohesion  of  welded  and  hammered  iron,  which  shall  give 
us  tension  enough  for  a  "  long  pull,  a  strong  pull,  and  a  pull  all  together."  My 
heart  was  touched  to  know  that  a  poor  woman  was  giving  one  dollar  per  month 
—  twelve  dollars  for  the  year  —  toward  the  support  of  our  league,  and  the  money 
was  earned  by  washing.  She  was  one  of  the  many  who  daily  pray  for  the  enact- 
ment of  the  County  Option  Bill,  that  her  husband  may  be  delivered  from  the 
man-trap  of  an  open  saloon.  I  am  sure  everything  is  summarized  and  wrapped 
up  in  this.  We  shall  get  healthful  political  activity,  and  the  forces  of  God  will 
be  marshalled  to  the  pre-primary,  the  primary,  and  the  polls  when  we  reach 
blood-earnestness.  We  shall  come  together  in  fraternal  union,  and  our  per- 
sonal pride  and  sensitiveness  and  dogmatism  as  to  methods  will  all  be  put 
away  for  the  sake  of  unification,  and  our  work  will  not  be  spasmodic  but  per- 
manent. We  shall  have  iron  cohesion  and  endurance,  and  we  shall  be  ready 
for  all  downright  personal  blood  sacrifice  when  we  get  terribly  in  earnest  about 
this  most  important  practical  work,  next  to  the  conversion  of  men,  that  the  chil- 
dren of  God  have  on  hand.  Oh  for  a  flash  of  heaven-sent  inspiration  that  will 
set  our  souls  aflame  with  zeal,  and  then  while  we  muse  the  fire  will  burn!  I 
believe  if  this  company  of  young  people  could  be  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
horrors  I  have  seen,  caused  directly  by  the  saloon,  you  would  go  forth  with  me 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight. 

If  there  were  no  other  calls  upon  you  for  earnestness  in  this  battle,  the  help- 
less children,  orphaned  by  death  and  worse  than  orphaned  by  divorce,  assaulted 
and  maltreated  by  the  cruel  greed  and  outlawry  of  bad  citizenship,  should  be 
enough  to  call  you  into  action.  Look  about  you  !  Is  not  this  hell-sent  curse 
at  work  in  every  place  where  the  saloon  is  found? 


Fifteenth  biternational  Convention.  143 

I  stand  to-night  as  the  attorney  for  blighted  childhood,  martyred  woman- 
hood, and  dethroned  mankind,  and  demand  that  you  make  earnest  business  of 
this  civic  revolution.  Young  people  of  America,  organize  everywhere  for  the 
destruction  of  the  saloon  !  Forward,  to  reinforce  the  wavering  battle-line  and 
turn  defeat  to  glorious  victory!  Assert  your  God-sent  citizenship;  strike  with 
your  votes  at  primaries  and  polls!  In  the  name  of  Mount  Moriah's  Christ, 
braid  with  Australian  ballots  a  whip  of  small  cords  to  lash  the  money-changers 
of  hell  out  of  the  rum-ruled  temple  of  American  politics  I 

"  O  children  of  bravest  fathers,  will  ye  falter 
With  all  they  left  ye  periled  and  at  stake? 
Ho  !    Once  again  on  freedom's  holy  altar 
The  fire  awake. 

"  Prayer-strengthened  for  the  conflict,  come  together; 
Gird  on  the  armor  for  this  mortal  fight; 
And.  with  the  blessing  of  your  Heavenly  Father, 
Maintain  the  right." 

After  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  Secretary  Baer  was  introduced  to  make 
the  following  announcement :  — 

Mr.  Baer  :  For  three  or  four  years  the  California  delegation  has  come  to 
each  successive  convention  expecting  to  take  back  the  convention  of  the  next 
year  following. 

I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  announce  to  you  to-night  that  the  trustees  of  the 
United  Society  have  decided  to  hold  the  Convention  of  1897  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. (Great  applause.)  (Cries  of  "  Hurrah!  ")  And  I  want  to  introduce  to 
you  for  just  a  moment  one  of  the  workers,  who  has  for  four  years  waited 
patiently  to  give  you  a  hearty  invitation  to  California, —  Mr.  E.  E.  Kelly,  M.D., 
of  San  Francisco. 

Dr.  Kelly  :  I  dare  say  there  are  some  in  this  audience  who,  about  four 
years  ago,  were  coming  down  the  St.  Lawrence  River  on  an  excursion,  and 
expecting  to  shoot  the  rapids;  and  for  some  reason,  which  I  can  not  tell,  not 
being  there,  the  trip  had  to  be  postponed.  And  perhaps  you  will  remember 
that  some  of  you  became  very  impatient  because  you  could  not  complete  the 
trip  at  that  time ;  and  some  pretty  warm  words  were  being  expressed,  when 
some  one  in  the  company  began  this  song:  "  Wait,  Meekly  Wait,  and  Murmur 
Not." 

We  have  been  waiting  for  four  years  for  the  privilege  of  standing  before  you 
in  the  capacity  in  which  I  stand  before  you  to-night,  to  announce  that  the 
convention  is  definitely  coming  to  San  Francisco,  without  any  "if's." 

There  was  an  old  German  on  the  train  coming  over  with  me  from  San  Fran- 
cisco. He  had  gone  to  San  Francisco  forty-two  years  ago,  and  he  had  gone 
from  the  East  by  the  way  of  Cape  Horn,  and  had  no  idea  whatever  of  the 
vastness  of  our  territory.  And  after  looking  at  the  territory,  and  admiring  the 
magnificent  farms  of  Nebraska  and  Iowa  and  Illinois,  he  was  filled  with 
wonder;  and  as  I  was  talking  to  him,  he  said  to  me  one  day,  "  My,  oh  my,  vat 
a  beeg  country  ve  got !  I  never  thought  so  mooch  aboud  it  before  in  my 
life!" 

So  it  is  with  all  of  you.  You  will  have  a  liberal  education  as  to  the  vastness 
of  the  empire  which  we  have  inherited. 

And  we  have  an  empire  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  which  we  will  take  great 
delight  in  showing  you.  We  have  become  accustomed  upon  the  Pacific  Coast 
to  think  in  a  large  way.  We  have  the  largest  valleys  of  any  State  in  the  Union, 
because  we  have  the  largest  State.  If  we  could  lay  California  down  upon  the 
Atlantic  Coast,  it  would  reach  from  Maine  to  South  Carolina.  And  we  have 
a  thousand  miles  of  seacoast,  and  a  mountain  range  which  contains  the  highest 
mountain  in  the  United  States.  We  have  the  Yosemite  Valley ;  and  we  have 
the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  other  great  things  that  I  can  not  mention  now. 
And  one  of  the  greatest  things,  and  one  of  the  things  that  we  prize  the  most  in 
the  vState  of  California,  is  a  State  Christian  Endeavor  Union  with  over  40,000 
members.    And  we  think  that  is  the  greatest  of  all. 


144  Official  Report  of  the 

What  will  you  give  us  ?  I  would  like  to  have  you  remember  that  California 
was  settled  by  the  Argonauts,  and,  after  the  days  of  '49,  by  those  adventurous 
characters  who  came  from  every  corner  of  the  globe  in  the  search  for  gold. 
And  they  were  not  very  rehgious  ;  and  we  are  not  very  religious  to-day.  There 
is  no  premium  on  religion  in  CaHfornia.  No  man  is  religious  because  it  is  popu- 
lar to  be  religious,  nor  because  it  pays  to  be  religious,  but  he  is  religious  from  prin- 
ciple. And  now,  if  you  come  to  us,  what  will  be  the  reflex  benefit  of  an  army  like 
this  in  the  State  of  California,  showing  that  there  are  men  of  business,  that 
there  are  educated  young  people,  that  there  are  thousands  of  college  presidents 
and  school-teachers,  and  thousands  of  the  most  intelligent  young  people  of  the 
land  who  are  not  afraid  to  acknowledge  Jesus  Christ  as  King? 

Ah,  what  the  influence  of  that  will  be,  I  can  tell  you.  It  will  be  to  enhance 
moral  ideas  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  a  great  deal.  And  in  that  way  you  will  help 
us  to  win  California  for  Christ,  as  is  the  motto  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Soci- 
eties of  that  State. 

Now  I  am  not  going  to  take  any  more  of  your  time  to  ask  you  to  come.  I 
know  you  want  to  come ;  but  I  wish  to  say  this  much :  that  if  you  will  come 
we  will  give  you  the  far-famed  California  welcome  ;  and  there  will  be  no  wine 
in  it  either.  (Laughter.)  And  I  am  very  glad  to  announce  to  you  that  we  can 
give  you  all  the  drinks  you  want,  but  they  are  guaranteed  to  be  strictly  temper- 
ance drinks  from  our  thousands  of  natural  springs,  than  which  not  even  Ger- 
many herself  can  boast  of  more  or  better. 

Therefore  I  invite  you  to  come  to  California  in  '97,  the  land  of  gold,  the  land 
of  sunshine,  fruit,  and  flowers.    (Great  applause.) 

Mr.  Wanamaker  then  introduced  Dr.  MacArthur,  who  held  the  vast 
audience  for  nearly  an  hour  by  a  masterly  address. 

Address  of  Rev.  R.  S.  MacArthur,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

It  is  altogether  fitting  that  the  duty  of  patriotism  should  be  emphasized  by  a 
convention  of  Christian  young  men  and  women.  One  element  in  the  thought 
and  work  of  all  true  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  is  duty  to  country  as  a  part 
of  our  duty  to  God.  It  is  quite  true  that  all  Christians  are  citizens  of  another 
country,  even  an  heavenly;  but  it  is  not  less,  but  all  the  more,  their  duty  to  be 
loyal  citizens  of  the  earthly  country.  The  better  the  Christian  the  better  the 
citizen.  We  must  strive  to  make  this  world  as  speedily  and  as  nearly  as  possi- 
ble the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  can  have  but  little  patience  with  Chris- 
tians who  claim  that  they  are  too  pious  to  have  any  relation  to  patriotic  poli- 
tics, who  say  that  they  are  so  interested  in  the  other  world  that  they  cannot  do 
their  duty  in  this  world.  I  think  that  kind  of  men  will  never  see  another  world 
as  good  as  this  world. 

I  hear  men  say  that  the  pool  of  politics  is  very  dirty,  and  so  they  must  keep 
away  from  it.  I  admit  that  the  pool  is  not  remarkably  clean  ;  but  I  deny  the 
inference  which  they  draw  from  that  fact.  Just  because  the  pool  is  dirty. 
Christian  men  ought  to  go  near  it;  and,  with  the  instinct  of  American  patriot- 
ism and  Christian  loyalty,  strive  to  cleanse  it. 

I  believe  that  patriotism  and  piety  are  twin  flowers,  growing  on  one  stem, 
whose  root  is  obedience  to  and  love  of  God  ana  man.  We  can  not  separate  the 
two.  "What  God  hath  joined  together  "  let  no  American  citizen  attempt  to 
put  asunder.  I  sympathize  with  the  idea  of  the  old  Hebrew  who  joined  his 
piety  and  his  patriotism  in  most  tender  fellowship.  He  said,  "Let  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  if  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem  !  Let  my  right 
hand  forget  its  cunning."  So  say  I,  if  my  right  hand  is  lifted  against  the  coun- 
try that  I  have  sworn  to  support,  or  if  my  right  hand  is  used  in  depositing  a 
false  ballot  against  Christian  citizenship. 

I  am  sure  that  we  all  sympathize  with  the  words  of  Dr.  Johnson  in  his 
"Journey  to  the  Western  Islands,"  when  he  says,  "  That  man  is  little  to  be 
envied  whose  patriotism  would  not  gain  force  on  the  plain  of  Marathon,  or 
whose  piety  would  not  grow  warmer  among  the  ruins  of  lona."  That  sentiment 
we  heartily  endorse. 


FiftccntJi  International  Convc7ition.  145 

I  am  only  an  adopted  American  citizen.  I  was  born  under  a  corner  of  the 
British  flag.  I  was  never  disloyal  to  that  flag.  As  a  boy,  I  rose  in  my  place 
and  uncovered  my  head  and  sang,  "  God  save  our  gracious  Queen."  As  a 
man,  1  transferred  my  allegiance  from  that  flag  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes ;  and 
I  now  sing,  "  My  country,  't  is  of  thee,  sweet  land  of  liberty,  of  thee  1  sing." 

It  was  not  a  pure  accident  that  both  songs  were  to  the  same  tune.  Many  of 
my  good  British  friends  have  said  that  Americans  stole  that  tune  from  Great 
Britain.  The  fact  is  that  we  both  stole  it  from  Germany.  And  perhaps  Ger- 
many stole  it  from  Italy.  And  whence  Italy  stole  it  this  deponent  saith  not. 
And  no  one  can  tell. 

I  think  it  is  not  accidental.  I  think  it  is  providential  that  we  should  sing 
the  same  song  out  of  hearts  glowing  with  similar  fervid  patriotism. 

And  now.  in  the  interests  of  true  American  citizenship,  I  think  that  the 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  ought  to  use  all  its  influence  in  preserving  peace 
within  our  own  borders  and  in  our  relations  with  all  of  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
We  agree  with  Milton,  when  he  said :  — 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories. 
No  less  renowned  than  war." 

There  is  an  American  patriotism  that  is  noisy;  it  is  bellicose;  it  is  boister- 
ous; it  is  practically  worthless  patriotism;  it  is  lingual;  it  is  labial  loyalty; 
it  is  pulmonary  patriotism  ;  it  is  not  cordial;  it  does  not  reach  the  heart;  it 
struts  and  stares  and  defies  and  threatens  war. 

Well,  now,  there  is  another  patriotism  that  is  quiet,  that  is  gentle,  but  that  is 
true;  that  does  its  duty  in  lowly  places;  that  is  loyal  to  God  and  country  in  the 
home,  in  the  office,  in  the  shop,  and,  especially,  at  the  ballot-box.  That  patriot- 
ism I  am  here  to-night  to  endorse.  Believe  me,  the  time  is  coming  when  all 
international  disputes  will  be  settled  by  international  arbitration,  when  the 
partisan  feeling  of  the  time  has  gone.  I  tell  you  that  General  Grant  will  appear, 
in  the  days  to  come,  as  brave  as  a  statesman  as  he  was  soldierly  as  a  soldier. 
We  know  well  that  some  of  the  grandest  pages  of  American  history  were  written 
by  the  sword  of  Grant  and  by  the  pen  of  Lincoln.  But  in  the  days  to  come.  Grant 
will  be  known  because  of  his  connection  with  the  settlement  of  international 
disputes  in  connection  with  international  arbitration.  The  time  was  when  all 
personal  disputes  were  settled  by  personal  encounters.  That  day  has  gone  by, 
never  to  return.  We  now  settle  personal  disputes  by  resort  to  courts.  The 
day  is  coming  when  all  international  disputes  will  be  settled  by  reference  to  an 
international  court  of  arbitration,  whose  word  shall  be  final  in  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  the  globe. 

I  believe  that  Christian  Endeavor  has  a  great  part  to  perform  in  bringing 
about  that  result.  During  the  last  one  hundred  years  eighty  cases  of  arbitra- 
tion among  the  nations  have  settled  eighty  cases  of  disputes  among  the  nations. 
I  know  that  the  school-books  do  not  tell  much  about  that,  because  the  histories 
would  rather  tell  the  story  of  an  unjust  war  than  narrate  the  facts  of  a  peaceful 
solution  of  national  and  international  difficulties. 

Another  reason  is  that  so  many  of  our  school-books  are  unfair  in  their 
treatment  of  historical  questions  as  between  Great  Britain  and  these  United 
States. 

Those  school-books  often  represent  Great  Britain  as  a  tyrant ;  represent 
Great  Britain  of  to-day  as  the  Great  Britain  of  the  days  of  George  III.  Great 
Britain  has  learned  lessons  as  to  the  treatment  of  her  colonies  since  the  days 
of  George  III. 

I  am  free  to  say  to  you  that  I  would  regard  a  war  with  Great  Britain  as  a 
war  of  fratricide.  Such  a  war  would  put  back  the  hands  of  progress  in  civili- 
zation, in  literature,  in  science,  and  in  missionary  effort  round  the  globe  ;  would 
put  back  the  hands  of  progress  at  least  a  century  on  the  dial  of  humanity. 

I  would  regard  such  a  war  as  being  a  dishonor  to  our  civilization  ;  as  being 
an  indignity  (if  it  is  not  a  war  necessary  to  vindicate  our  honor;  that  is 
another  matter;.  A  needless  war  would  be  an  indignity  upon  our  common 
humanity  and  a  reproach  upon  the  civilization  of  the  closing  days  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 


146  Official  Report  of  the 

I  teil  you  that  these  two  great  English-speaking  and  Protestant  nations  are 
marching,  side  by  side,  to  the  music  of  Christ's  name  for  the  conquest  of  this 
world.  1  want  to  see  this  American  flag  the  noblest  flag  beneath  God's  stars 
to-night.  This  flag,  that  is  the  hope  and  the  inspiration  of  humanity  from  sea 
to  sea  and  pole  to  pole,  I  want  to  see  blended  in  inseparable  union  with  that 
other  flag;  and  over  both,  thus  united,  I  want  to  see  the  banner  of  Emmanuel 
float, —  that  banner  which  is  the  symbol  of  God's  sublimest  revelation  to  man, 
and  of  man's  divinest  aspiration  toward  God. 

I  believe,  Christian  Endeavorers,  and  largely  through  your  influence,  that 
the  time  is  coming  when  the  words  of  the  laureate  —  now  the  sainted  laureate, 
Tennyson  —  shall  have  their  complete  fulfilment:  — 

"  When  the  war-drum  throbs  no  longer, 
And  the  battle  flags  are  furled, 
In  the  parliament  of  man. 
The  federation  of  the  world." 

Well,  now,  Christian  Endeavorers  must  take  note  of  some  of  the  dangers  to 
which  this  Republic  is  now  exposed. 

One  danger  is  that  of  indifferentism  on  the  part  of  the  so-called  "  best " 
American  citizens,  with  reference  to  their  duty  to  their  country  and  to  their 
God.  I  have  sometimes  been  out  of  patience  with  these  so-called  "best  citi- 
zens." We  know  that  there  is  a  class  of  men  in  all  our  cities  who  will  vote 
early,  and  who  would,  and  who,  in  New  York,  used  to,  vote  often,  as  well 
as  early.  But,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  are  limiting  their  voting  to  the 
early,  and  not  to  the  ofteti;  for  we  have  overthrown  the  gigantic  power  on 
Manhattan  Island  that  dominated  the  politics  of  the  city,  the  politics  of  the 
state,  and,  to  some  degree,  the  politics  of  the  nation.  And  God  help  us  to 
keep  the  tiger  down  / 

Now  we  must  stimulate  our  best  people ;  we  must  show  them  that  it  is  a 
duty  which  they  owe  to  themselves,  to  their  country,  and  to  their  God  to  do 
their  duty  at  the  polls. 

Another  one  of  the  great  dangers  to  which  we  are  exposed  I  can  name  in  a 
single  word, —  foreignism. 

Now  I  have  already  intimated  to  you  that  I  was  a  little  bit  of  a  foreigner 
myself  ;  and  I  have  always  observed  that  when  a  fellow  gets  here,  he  is  n't  so 
very  particular  as  to  whether  the  other  fellow  shall  get  here  or  not.  It  depends, 
however,  I  think,  a  little  upon  the  fellow,  in  both  instances. 

Reference  was  made  by  the  preceding  speaker  to  the  question  as  to  whether 
or  not  the  women  should  have  the  ballot.  I  tell  you,  if  all  the  women  in  these 
United  States  were  like  the  Christian  Endeavor  women,  I  would  give  them  the 
ballot.  I  wish  all  the  men  who  have  it  were  like  the  Christian  Endeavor  men. 
It  is  not,  after  all,  a  question  of  women  or  of  men,  but  it  is  a  question  of  intelli- 
gence and  capacity  and  of  loyalty  to  the  country  and  loyalty  to  duty. 

Now  we  had  an  idea  once  that  all  foreigners  who  came  to  us  were  De  Kalbs 
or  Lafayettes.  Well,  I  have  watched  a  great  many  incoming  steamers  of  many 
nationalities ;  and  for  the  life  of  me,  I  can  t  pick  out  the  De  Kalbs  or  the 
Lafayettes.  Perhaps  they  were  there  ;  but  they  were  very  greatly  obscured,  if 
they  were. 

This  country,  I  insist  upon  it,  deserves  the  best  of  every  country  in  the  world 
for  American  citizenship.  There  are  two  classes  at  least  that  we  shall  not 
allow  to  come  here.  If  steamship  companies  bring  us  their  paupers,  many 
towns  (curtesy  forbids  my  naming  countries)  paying  the  fare  of  these  paupers 
to  get  rid  of  them  —  I  say,  if  the  steamship  companies  bring  them,  we  will  make 
those  steamship  companies  take  them  back!  We  will  make  them  take  them 
back  and  dump  them  in  the  countries  whence  they  came!  We  shan't  permit 
the  American  shore  to  be  longer  the  dumping-ground  for  the  worst  populations 
of  Southern  Europe.  And  we  shan't  allow  the  anarchists  to  come  to  this  coun- 
try. No,  we  shan't.  When  a  man  comes  here  with  a  red  flag  of  anarchy  in  one 
hand  and  a  dynamite  bomb  in  the  other,  by  every  instinct  of  patriotism,  and  by 
every  element  of  divine  grace,  we  '11  quarantine  that  man  for  the  rest  of  his 
natural  life ! 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  147 

Now  I  want  to  suggest  some  immediate  duties  that  press  upon  us  as  Chris- 
tian Endeavorers  and  as  patriotic  American  citizens.  And  first,  we  must  see  to 
the  preservation  of  the  purity  of  the  ballot-box.  In  countries  where  kings 
reign,  if  a  man  slays  a  king  he  is  guilty  of  regicide.  If  he  kills  another  man  he 
is  guilty  of  homicide.  Well,  now,  in  our  country,  where  the  people  reign,  when 
a  man  smites  the  ballot-box  he  smites  the  sovereignty  of  the  American  people. 
The  ballot-box  is  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  this  American  Republic.  I  tell 
you  that  I  could  wish  that  the  hand  that  deposits  a  false  vote  might  be  para- 
lyzed, and  that  the  tongue  that  makes  the  report  should  cleave  to  the  roof  of  the 
mouth  of  its  owner.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  in  this  country  to  give  us  false  re- 
turns, or  to  deposit  false  ballots. 

Now  another  duty  that  I  must  insist  upon  is  the  entire  separation  of  Church 
and  State  throughout  this  land.  Our  fathers  came  to  this  country  with  many 
erroneous  ideas  of  the  relation  between  Church  and  State.  We,  fortunately, 
have  outgrown  most  of  their  errors.  But  we  did  see,  until  lately,  almost  all  the 
denominations  in  America  putting  their  hands  into  the  public  treasury  at  Wash- 
ington, to  take  out  money  for  Indian  education.  I  tell  you  that  every  dollar  of 
that  money  taken  out  of  the  public  treasury  for  that  purpose,  for  sectarian  edu- 
cation, was  against  the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  the  American  Constitution. 

Some  denominations  had  their  hand  in  up  to  the  wrist ;  others  to  the  elbow. 
But  the  principle  was  the  same.  All  honor  to  the  American  Congress  in  its 
last  session  for  the  position  it  took  on  that  point. 

Let  the  whole  country  send  up  to-night  a  Te  Deum,  because  we  are  advancing 
to  the  only  consistent  position  for  the  American  Republic  in  that  regard.  We 
shall  keep  on  advancing.  There  shall  be  no  backward  steps  in  this  land  of 
progress.  The  same  principle  will  lead  us  to  give  all  intelligence  to  our  voters 
to  fit  them  for  their  work,  and  there  will  come  in  the  public  schools.  And  we 
shall  say,  so  that  our  voice  shall  be  heard  from  the  mighty  Atlantic  to  the  might- 
ier Pacific,  "No  politician  of  whatever  party,  no  ecclesiastic  of  whatever  church, 
shall  touch  the  public  schools  of  America  !  " 

Now  let  me  relieve  your  patience  in  a  word.  I  believe,  as  you  see,  in  the 
dominance  of  moral  forces,  and  so  I  make  my  appeal  to  Christian  Endeavorers. 
I  tell  you  that  one  of  the  saddest  sights  in  the  world  was  in  1855,  in  the  Crimean 
War,  when  out  of  fifty-five  thousand  British  soldiers  eighteen  thousand  were  in 
hospitals.  Never  were  brave  Britons  so  badly  managed.  They  marched  in 
snow  with  boots  without  soles ;  and  they  lay  down  at  night  to  sleep  on  ice  or  in 
pools  of  water.  Generalship  was  helpless.  Statesmanship  was  speechless. 
Dr.  Russell  wrote  a  letter  to  the  London  Times  that  stirred  all  England.  What 
could  be  done  }  Who  should  go  .'' 

Then  uprose  a  queenly  English  woman,  Florence  Nightingale ;  and  she 
went! 

She  was  born  in  the  same  year  as  Queen  Victoria;  and  she  is  a  queen  — 
Queen  Florence  —  worthy  to  be  placed  alongside  of  Queen  Victoria ! 

What  have  we  seen  lately.''  We  have  seen  the  trembling  tyrant  sitting  on 
his  tottering  throne  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  Armenia  lying  dying, 
bleeding  at  every  pore,  and  all  the  nations  helpless.  Because  of  national  delu- 
sions and  because  of  political  precedents  they  could  do  nothing. 

What  then.?  All  honor  to  American  womanhood!  Then  uprose  Clara 
Barton,  and  at  the  touch  of  that  American  woman's  finger  every  door  into  Ar- 
menia opened  wide,  and  she  went  as  the  angel  of  God  to  the  suffering  and  the 
dying. 

I  tell  you,  men  and  women,  there  are  forces  silent  as  the  dew  but  mighty  as 
the  storm.  There  are  forces  trackless  as  gravitation,  but  resistless  as  the  fiat  of 
Almighty  God.  To  these  moral  forces  I  to-night  make  my  appeal.  I  was  in 
Lucknow,  in  India,  a  few  months  ago.  I,  as  a  boy,  read  to  my  father  and 
mother  the  story  of  the  battles  of  the  Sepoy  Rebellion  in  1857,  for,  in  Sir  Colin 
Campbell's  regiment  of  Scotch  Highlanders  both  my  father  and  mother  had 
relatives  who  died  for  country  and  queen  on  that  Indian  soil.  And  many  a 
time  as  I  read  my  voice  trembled,  and  their  eyes  were  moistened  with  tears.  I 
saw  the  place  where  the  brave  Scotch  woman,  Jessie,  lay  on  the  ground  waiting 


148  Official  Report  of  the 

for  the  deliverers  to  come  to  Lucknow.  None  others  heard  it ;  but  in  her  ex- 
cited state  of  mind  she  caught  the  notes  of  the  music,  and  she  said,  "  It  is 
the  pibroch  !  Dinna  ye  hear  it  ?  'T  is  the  slogan  of  the  MacGregors,  the  brav- 
est o'  them  a' ! "  ,      .        .       ^  ,  ,     , 

To-night,  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  tirst  time  I  have  ever  had 
the  honor  of  addressing  a  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  excepting  when  you 
met  in  Saratoga,  when  1  spoke  with  the  lamented  and  honored  and  beloved  and 
sainted  Dr.  Deems  — to-night  I  before  you  lay  my  ear  upon  the  ground.  I  hear 
the  coming  hosts  of  Christian  Endeavor  shouting  their  songs  for  truth,  for  coun- 
try, for  purity,  for  Christ!  I  hear  the  music  of  the  twentieth  century.  Oh,  it  is 
sweet,  sweet  music!  Listen  to  it!  It  comes  echoing  down  through  the  inter- 
vening years.  It  is  music  that  tells  of  a  purer  faith,  a  sweeter  love,  a  more  ar- 
dent zeal,  and  an  intenser  loyalty  for  Christ  and  for  humanity. 

Amid  all  its  notes  I  hear  the  song  sung  only  once  to  human  ears  by  an  an- 
gelic choir,  sung  over  the  plains  of  Bethlehem  the  night  the  Christ  was  born, 
—  "  And  on  earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men  ! " 

The  benediction  was  pronounced  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Withrovir,  D.D.,  LL.D,, 
of  Chicago. 

Tent  Endeavor. 

Hundreds  stood  around  the  circumference  of  the  Tent  Endeavor,  the 
flaps  of  which  were  thrown  up  in  order  to  allow  the  air  to  circulate, 
and  all  were  deeply  interested  in  what  was  being  done  under  the 
canvas.  The  gathering  was  a  picturesque  one,  under  the  glow  of  the 
numerous  electric  arc-lights.  Looking  from  the  choir  platform,  it  was 
a  mass  of  color,  the  bright  dresses  of  the  ladies  heightened  by  the 
gleaming  badges  which  decorated  their  bosoms,  and  made  the  red, 
white,  and  blue  streamers  and  the  parti-colored  fiags  that  swung  above 
the  audience  seem  dull  by  comparison.  The  chorus,  from  the  audience 
seats,  was  equally  as  pleasing  in  its  optical  effect,  and  its  largely  aug- 
mented ranks  rendered  the  familiar  hymns  of  Christian  Endeavor  with 
a  vim  and  energy  that  was  enjoyable  in  the  extreme.  The  singing  was 
commenced  immediately  after  the  crowd  began  to  gather,  under  the 
leadership  of  Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster,  and  was  continued  without  inter- 
mission until  the  meeting  was  regularly  opened.  Postmaster-General 
William  L.  Wilson  was  the  presiding  officer  of  the  evening. 

Rev.  Sterling  N.  Brown,  of  Washington,  conducted  the  devotional 
exercises. 

Remarks  by  Hon.  W.  L.  Wilson. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  announce  that  the  subject  to  be  considered  is 
"Christian  Citizenship,"  and  I  need  hardly  add  that  no  more  worthy  theme  could 
be  given  a  place  on  a  programme  of  exercises  participated  in  by  men  and  women 
from  every  section  of  the  country.  With  such  a  country  and  inheriting  sucli 
institutions,  the  duty  of  a  citizen  is  ever  present  and  strenuous.  What  consti- 
tutes o-ood  citizenship  must  always  be  the  serious  theme  of  consideration  on  the 
part  of  every  man.  This  consideration  was  never  more  timely  than  now,  when 
the  country  is  on  the  eve  of  a  great  election,  at  which  a  President  of  the 
United  States  is  to  be  chosen  and  the  policy  of  our  government  is  to  be 
decided  for  years  to  come.  The  world  never  saw  a  grander  or  more  inspiring 
sight  than  yo.ooo.oco  free  and  enlightened  people  going  up  to  the  ballot-box, 
clioosino-  their  rulers,  and  declaring  the  way  in  which  their  laws  shall  be  shaped. 
How  shall  we  at  such  a  time  perform  the  task  so  as  to  assure  happiness  to  our- 
selves and  our  countrymen  and  prosperity  to  our  country-,  unless  we  ponder 
well  the  foundations   upon   which  American  citizenship  must  ever  rest.?     It 


Fifteenth  Intefuational  Convention.  149 

needs  no  long  reach  to  ascertain  what  these  are.  The  declaration  was  made 
long  ago,  and  is  still  familiar,  that  "religion,  knowledge,  and  morality  are 
essential  to  good  government  and  good  citizenship." 

For  the  Christian  citizen,  the  honest  exercise  of  his  franchise  is  not  only  a 
civic  duty,  but  a  divine  command. 

We  have  been  told  to  render  unto  Czesar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's,  and 
unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.  That  means  not  that  we  must  be  careless 
and  corrupt  in  our  civil  duties,  but  careful  and  honest,  and,  if  need  be,  self-sac- 
rificing in  the  exercise  of  them. 

The  next  speaker  was  the  President  of  Colorado  College. 

Address  of  President  William  F.  Slocum,  Colorado  Springs,  Col. 

We  mean  by  Christian  citizenship  that  which  is  Christlike;  that  which 
finds  its  rule  of  action  in  those  principles  which  governed  his  life.  We  are  told 
by  the  so-called  "  practical  politician  "  that  high  ideals  like  those, — that  it  is  bet- 
ter to  suffer  than  to  do  wrong  ;  that  the  Golden  Rule  should  be  the  working  prin- 
ciple of  every  man's  action  —  are  mere  theories,  and  have  really  no  place  in  our 
political  life,  and  also  that  the  day  has  gone  when  the  public  has  any  right  to 
expect  any  such  ideas  to  obtain  in  our  great  political  movements.  They  do  not, 
we  are  told,  bring  success  as  working  theories;  and  as  success  must  be  secured 
at  any  price,  they  must  be  set  aside  again  and  again  in  our  practical  politics. 

There  is  no  necessity  of  our  examining  the  various  theories  of  government 
like  the  paternal, — the  one  that  the  government  is  simply  an  evolution  from  the 
idea  of  defence,  or  that  it  is  a  theocracy  ;  but  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  a 
certain  false  theory  that  is  playing  a  very  dangerous  part  in  our  nation  to-day, 
and  which  is  essentially  unchristian.  As  you  all  know,  at  the  time  our  nation 
was  born  politically  French  ideas  had  great  influence  among  many  of  our  lead- 
ing thinkers  upon  political  matters.  One  theory  which  had  great  influence  at 
that  time,  and  played  a  serious  part  in  the  French  Revolution,  was  that  all 
government  should  be  based  upon  a  social  contract.  That  is,  the  thing  upon 
which  a  government  rests,  in  the  last  appeal,  is  the  agreements  or  contracts 
that  the  people  make  with  each  other;  that  the  government  of  a  city  like 
Baltimore,  for  example,  rests  upon  the  agreements  or  contracts  that  the  people 
of  that  metropolis  make  with  each  other.  Now  this  is  a  half-truth,  but,  like  all 
half-truths,  when  left  to  themselves  they  are  very  dangerous.  Let  me  remind 
you  how  that  theory  worked  itself  out  in  the  French  Revolution.  A  certain 
philosopher  in  England  said,  "  The  basis  of  society,  religion,  and  government  is 
found  in  experience."  That  is,  he  meant  that  if  people  would  come  together  and 
compare  their  experiences  they  would  find  that  the  truth  they  discovered  in  their 
common  opinions  would  furnish  the  truth  on  which  all  human  institutions  could 
be  built.  This  seemed  to  just  suit  the  French  political  movements  that  pre- 
ceded the  revolution.  The  leaders  of  the  people  said,  "  Yes,  this  is  the  true  basis 
of  all  institutions.  Our  opinion  is  we  do  not  want  a  king.  Off  with  his  head  ! 
The  old  codes  of  laws  are  good  or  bad  just  as  we  think  them  good  or  bad.  We 
think  we  do  not  want  them.  Let  us  make  laws  for  each  day  as  it  comes.  The 
home  is  built  on  the  law  of  marriages,  but  the  communistic  notion  suits  us  better. 
We  think  tlie  home  is  unnecessary  and  there  is  something  better,  therefore  the 
marriage  contract  must  go.  Religion  depends  upon  the  idea  of  God.  We  are 
of  the  opinion  that  there  is  a  God,  and  so  there  must  be  one.  Therefore  religion, 
the  Church,  and  the  absolute  code  of  morals  stand.  But  we  have  concluded 
that  there  is  no  God.  and.  therefore,  there  is  no  God.  The  social  contract  settles 
it,  and  religion  and  the  Church  are  gone."  Then  the  commune  swept  through 
the  streets  of  Paris,  and  after  that  the  cannon  of  Napoleon  belched  grape  and 
canister  into  the  faces  of  the  mob,  teaching  them  there  was  authority  deeper  and 
stronger  than  their  fickle  opinions. 

This  is  the  theory  that  has  crept  slov/ly  and  surely  into  our  American  politi- 
cal life.  It  has  appeared  in  a  different  way,  but  it  is  here  and  always  has  been 
here.  The  basis  of  government  is  a  social  contract,  we  are  told.  Let  us  study- 
it  a  little  in  our  American  life  to  see  what  our  Christian  duty  is.     If  I  speak  seri- 


150  Official  Report  of  the 

ously,  it  is  simply  because  my  heart  inspires  this  seriousness  and  because  I 
believe  there  is  a  duty  and  an  opportunity  before  you  Christian  young  people, 
the  like  of  which  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  world's  history.  A  great  relig- 
ious impulse  has  come  to  you  that  perhaps  has  never  been  equalled.  It  must 
all  lead  to  a  duty,  and  I  believe  that  duty  in  large  measure  is  the  preservation  of 
pur  nation  from  dangers  that  threaten  it.  This  rescue  must  be  achieved  by  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  our  Saviour  to  the  problems  of  our  political  and 
social  life.  This  is  why  I  wanted  to  come  from  my  home  by  the  great  moun- 
tains and  give  you  the  message  that  has  been  in  my  heart  these  many  days. 

As  one  turns  back  to  the  birthday  of  our  nation  and  asks.  What  was  it  that 
was  the  corner-stone  of  our  great  declaration  and  constitution .?  does  he  find 
that  it  was  simply  the  agreements  of  certain  people  one  with  another  over  there 
in  Philadelphia,  who  said,  "  If  we  do  not  hang  together  we  shall  hang  separ- 
ately " .''  Were  these  ideas  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  the  individual  founded 
on  the  opinions  of  those  brave  men  who  stood  ready  to  give  their  heart's  blood 
for  their  declarations,  the  basis  of  all  that  grew  out  of  this  deed  ?  Where  did 
those  ideas  come  from  which  they  enunciated.?  Did  they  create  them.?  Did 
they  change  them  one  iota .?  Did  their  opinions  have  anything  to  do  with  their 
truthfulness,  or  did  they  simply  discourse  the  truth  that  had  always  been,  and 
build  stronger  than  they  knew,  because  their  opinions  could  not  modify  eternal 
principle?  Those  were  the  same  ideas  that  made  the  Magna  Charta,  that  were 
victories  at  Marston  Moor  and  at  Naseby;  those  same  ideas  launched  the 
Mayflower  and  brought  the  Cavalier  to  Virginia  and  the  Pilgrims  to  Plymouth ; 
but  no  man  made  them,  no  man's  opinion  affects  them  one  iota.  They  come 
from  out  the  centuries ;  they  come  from  the  eternities  ;  they  are  from  God.  Do 
you  think  for  a  moment  that  any  man's  opinion,  or  the  agreements  of  any  num- 
ber of  people,  can  modify  in  the  least  the  eternal  truth  of  God?  I  have  no 
quarrel  with  the  contracts  which  men  make  one  with  another,  but  when  they 
place  their  contracts  or  agreements  at  the  basis  of  government  and  society,  I 
must  ask  first  of  all,  not  whether  a  certain  number  of  people  agreed  to  this  or 
that,  but.  Are  these  agreements  right  —  right  as  God  and  his  Christ  pronounce 
them  right  ? 

The  Christian  citizen  asks,  before  all  else,  Have  we  discovered  in  this  or  that 
movement  the  thing  that  is  true?  Is  this  the  trend  in  our  American  political 
life?  I  am  not  denying  that  there  is  much  that  is  true  ;  that  there  are  men  in 
our  public  affairs  who  would  stand  for  what  was  right,  no  matter  what  was  ar- 
rayed against  them;  but  behind  all  this  there  still  remains  the  serious  and  un- 
deniable fact  that  our  so-called  practical  politician  asks,  first  of  all,  What  will 
succeed  in  getting  votes? 

This  is  the  thing  to  which  we  must  agree,  and,  having  made  our  contract,  we 
must  call  that  the  truth.  This,  I  say,  is  the  working  theory  in  very  much  of  our 
public  life. 

The  next  step  is  the  one  that  makes  the  end  of  political  movements  to  agree 
to  that  which  will  create  a  majority,  as  if  the  one  thing  of  all  others  was  to 
be  in  the  majority,  no  matter  what  the  means  by  which  the  majority  is  secured, 
for  we  are  told  it  is  the  majority  which  always  controls.  Here  is  another  dan- 
gerous half-truth.  Is  it  the  majority  that  always  controls  ?  I  love  to  think  of 
that  brave  apostle  standing  in  the  old  pagan  city  when  the  mob  was  hooting 
him,  and  crying  in  their  foolish  madness  about  the  greatness  of  their  goddess. 
Who  has  ruled,  the  majority  of  that  day,  or  the  man  who  stood  alone  against 
the  great  majority?  A  few  years  ago  men  were  digging  in  the  ddbris  of  that 
same  city,  and  discovering  a  ruin,  they  measured  it  and  found  it  was  the  foun- 
dation of  that  great  temple  at  Ephesus.  Somehow  the  temple,  the  goddess,  and 
the  crowd  have  lost  their  power,  and  the  minority  of  that  day  rules  in  ten  thous- 
and hearts.  The  history  of  the  centuries  shows  that  it  is  the  men  who  have 
stood  alone  for  what  was  right,  and  stood  because  their  position  was  right,  that 
have  guided  the  destinies  of  the  world.  When  will  we  learn  that  "  one  with 
God  is  a  majority"? 

Was  there  a  grander  moment  in  the  life  of  our  Lord  than  when,  the  world 
having  turned  its  back  upon  him,  he  stood  with  the  glory  of  a  triumphant 


FiftecntJi  Intcrnaiiojial  Convention.  151 

Christ  in  his  face  and  said,  "Ye  shall  leave  me  alone,  and  yet  I  am  not  alone. 
Be  of  good  cheer." 

One  of  the  first  marks  of  a  Christian  citizen  is  power  and  willingness  to 
stand  alone  for  a  principle. 

There  is  another  test  of  Christian  citizenship  that  is  very  simple,  and  yet  it 
is  one  of  the  most  far-reaching  principles  in  all  political  science.  It  was  the 
ideal  of  the  ablest  philosopher  of  the  century.  Let  me  illustrate  it  in  a  very 
simple  manner.  If  I  had  a  blackboard  here,  I  should  place  a  dot  upon  it  and 
ask  you  to  let  it  represent  an  individual,  a  citizen.  Then  I  should  draw  round 
that  a  circle  and  let  it  stand  for  that  institution  which  comes  nearest  the  indi- 
vidual, the  home.  No  one  ever  becomes  a  perfect  human  being  unless  he 
stands  in  some  real  relation  to  the  home,  unless  in  some  way  he  gives  himself 
to  it,  gives  of  his  thought,  his  time,  his  strength.  So  it  is  that  there  wakes  in 
him  that  noble  passion,  love  of  home,  one  of  the  deepest  and  most  beautiful 
things  in  the  human  soul.  Now  I  want  to  draw  a  second  circle  round  this  first 
and  call  it  society.  I  use  this  word  in  its  larger  sense.  I  mean  infinitely  more 
than  that  for  which  people  dress  extravagantly,  in  which  they  tell  lies  to  each 
other  and  worse  ones  behind  their  backs.  Society  is  the  coming  of  people 
together  for  any  purpose,  either  good  or  bad.  There  is  society  in  the  slum  and 
on  the  avenue;  there  is  society  in  the  factory  and  the  coal-mine;  in  the  bank 
and  at  the  university.  Just  as  the  individual  gives  himself  in  some  real  way  to 
society,  to  his  fellows,  to  humanity,  does  he  find  himself,  his  own  deeper  nature 
that  is  born  of  love  for  his  neighbor. 

Let  us  draw  another  circle  around  these  two,  and  call  it  government.  There 
is  abroad  in  the  land  the  false  theory  that  a  government  exists  simply  to  take 
care  of  the  citizen.  It  must  take  care  of  the  pauper  and  the  feeble-minded;  but 
one's  government,  which  in  a  peculiar  way  stands  for  one's  native  land,  one's 
country,  exists  to  be  cared  for,  supported,  and  upheld.  To  give  one's  self  to 
one's  country  is  the  true  idea  of  loyalty,  and  this  it  is  that  rouses  another 
splendid  passion  in  the  human  heart,  love  of  country.  So  it  is  that  man  con- 
tinues to  find  himself.  Woe  to  us  as  a  nation  if  this  passion  passes  away  from 
the  people,  and  the  citizen  simply  asks.  What  will  the  government  give  me? 
rather  than,  What  can  I  give  of  devotion,  thought,  service,  to  my  country.? 

But  we  must  draw  one  other  circle  round  these  others,  for  it  embraces  them 
all,  and  call  it  God.  Just  as  the  individual  gives  himself,  directly  and  also  in 
and  through  all  these  other  things,  to  God  does  he  find  his  deepest,  his  truest, 
his  real  self.  So  it  is  that  he  realizes  himself,  discovers  his  own  soul.  This  is 
the  philosophy  of  all  true  citizenship  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  "  He  that  would 
find  his  life  must  lose  it"  is  the  profoundest  of  all  philosophic  principles.  It  is 
also  the  simplest  and  sweetest  law  of  daily  life. 

But  is  some  one  saying.  This  all  sounds  well,  but  after  all,  what  am  I  to  do.? 
What  am  I  to  do  when  the  majority  is  against  me,  and  it  seems  as  if  1  were  in 
a  hopeless  minority  .?  What  if  I  find  myself  alone .?  Life  is  short,  and  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  stand  against  dishonesty  and  selfishness.  I  want  my  life  to  amount  to 
something,  and  I  do  not  want  to  be  forever  on  the  losing  side. 

A  few  summers  ago,  I  sailed  through  the  great  lakes,  and  talking  with  the 
pilot  of  the  steamer  of  the  great  winter  storms  that  sweep  over  those  inland 
seas,  I  asked  him,  "  What  do  you  do  in  those  fiercest  gales .?  "  "  We  keep  her  head 
on,"  was  his  reply.  "Well,  what  do  you  then?"  "We  keep  her  head  on." 
"But  what  do  you  do  after  that,"  I  continued.  "  We  keep  her  head  on.  Last 
winter  we  met  one  of  those  southeasters  just  where  we  are  now,  and  for  hours, 
with  every  pound  of  steam  we  could  carry,  we  kept  her  nose  up  into  the  gale; 
but  at  last  the  storm  abated,  and  we  made  our  harbor."  That  is  my  advice  to  you. 
Keep  her  head  on.  Keep  your  faces  up  into  the  storm.  You  are  never  alone. 
Our  land  needs  brave  and  earnest  men  and  women,  who  shall  save  our  country 
from  the  false  theories  and  base  deeds  that  threaten  her.  I  do  not  ask  you  to 
seek  office.  Let  the  office  seek  you,  and.  if  it  does,  take  up  the  burden  with 
just  as  high  an  ideal  as  that  which  led  to  the  consecration  of  those  young  lives 
at  the  haystack  in  Williamstown,  years  ago ;  but  above  all,  in  word,  in  deed, 
let  no  low  ideal  of  the  duties  you  owe  to  your  country  take  possession  of  your 


152  Official  Report  of  tJie 

mind  and  heart,  and  let  no  man  persuade  you,  either  by  false  argument  or  base 
sneer,  that  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  our  Master,  do  not  and  can  not  obtain  in  all 
our  political  affairs. 

Treasurer  Shaw  then  presented  Mr.  Rolla  V.  Watt,  of  San  Francisco, 
chairman  of  the  Endeavor  Convention  committee  of  1897,  saying  that 
next  year  the  Endeavorers  would  go  to  California  and  help  win  the 
Pacific  Coast  for  Christ.  Mr.  Watt  told  what  Californians  were  going 
to  do  to  entertain  the  Endeavorers.  The  California  committee  had 
already  collected  all  the  necessary  funds  for  entertaining  the  Conven- 
tion. He  believed  the  trip  across  the  continent  would  be  an  education 
to  every  Endeavorer.  He  wanted  all  to  come,  and  promised  a  warm 
and  hearty  welcome. 

"  Not  only  will  the  Golden  Gate  be  opened  to  welcome  you,  but  the 
gates  of  our  hearts  and  our  homes,"  he  said,  earnestly,  in  conclusion. 

Mr.  Foster  called  for  everybody  to  sing  "  that  favorite  song  of 
Californians,  '  Sunshine  in  the  Soul.'  "  It  was  sung  with  a  splendid 
swing. 

The  closing  address  of  the  evening  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
P.  S.  Henson,  of  Chicago,  and  was  probably  as  strong  an  arraignment 
of  the  saloon  evil  as  has  ever  been  delivered  on  a  public  rostrum. 
In  vigorous  and  graphic  strokes  he  pictured  the  saloon  as  the  greatest 
danger  that  threatens  the  safety  of  the  United  States.  He  held  his 
hearers  spellbound  until  points  were  reached  when  they  could  restrain 
their  enthusiastic  approval  no  longer,  and  the  applause  at  times  was  as 
much  by  the  voices  as  by  the  hands  of  his  auditors. 

We  regret  the  stenographic  report  was  mislaid.  Below  we  give  a 
part  of  the  address. 

Address  of  Rev.  P.  S.  Henson,  D.D.,  Chicago,  III. 

\^  From  a  WashtHgton  paper P[ 

I  believe  in  the  pulpit,  and  I  beheve  in  the  polls.  I  believe  in  the  prayer 
meeting,  and  I  believe  in  the  primary,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  my  duty  to  be  at 
one  as  much  as  it  is  to  be  at  the  other. 

It  is  the  habit  of  preachers  to  perish  in  the  platitudes.  They  aim  at  nothing 
all  around  an  imaginary  circumference  and  hit  it  every  time,  but  I  propose 
to  aim  at  something  and'  fire.  If  my  language  smells  of  brimstone,  no  one  must 
mind  it,  because  my  subject  is  very  close  to  the  mouth  of  hell.  When  Joshua 
crossed  the  Jordan  he  was  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  the  most  remarkable  cranks 
the  world  had  ever  seen.  They  were  armed  with  rams'  horns,  and  they  marched 
around  the  walls  and  blew,  not  on  horns  of  silver,  but  on  rams'  horns.  And  the 
high  and  mighty  muck-a-mucks  of  Jericho  looked  down  on  the  crowd  with 
densive  laughter.  They  continued  to  tramp  and  blow  until  one  day  there 
was  a  great  shout,  and  the  walls  of  Jericho  tumbled  down.  That  was  the 
great  object-lesson  for  God's  army  to  be  unmindful  of  the  obstacles  that  con- 
fronted it.  faithful  in  the  assurance  that  in  the  end  they  would  be  overcome. 

The  Gibraltar  of  the  devil,  the  strongest  fortress  he  has  on  earth,  and  whose 
guns  are  the  longest,  is  the  saloon.  I  do  not  propose  to  speak  of  the  wine 
of  communion,  fermented  or  unfermented.  or  of  the  medical  uses  of  alcohol,  or 
of  the  subject  of  dietetics,  where  a  man  has  beer  and  beef  on  his  own  table.  I 
want  to  invoke  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  saloon  as  a  menace  to  our 
civilization.  . 

Both  great  parties,  all  great  parties,— and  there  seem  to  be  a  number  of  them 


Fifteenth  International  Coivcntion.  153 

in  this  year  of  bolts  and  thunderbolts,— seem  to  believe  in  protection  to  a  greater 
or  a  less  degree.  The  protection  they  talk  of,  however,  is  of  sheep,  pig-iron, 
salt,  and  such  things;  but  it  is  for  the  Christians  to  defend  protection  of  homes 
and  hearts  and  human  souls.  I  hear  a  good  deal  of  talk  also  about  the  cur- 
rency, about  honest  money  and  debased  money.  Jeroboam  once  set  up  in  his 
kingdom  a  couple  of  calves,  one  at  Dan  and  one  at  Bethel.  I  don't  know 
what  metal  those  calves  were  made  of,  but  I  reckon  one  was  silver  and  the 
other  gold.  I  reckon  we  can  call  the  gold  one  Dan,  because  a  golden  calf 
was  molded  out  there,  and  now  Chicago  is  Bethel,  for  a  silver  calf  is  being 
molded  there,  and  70,000,000  people  are  dancing  in  idiotic  ecstasy  around 
them  both.  I  want  to  know  if  there  is  nothing  nobler  for  the  American 
people  to  consider  than  these  political  makeshifts.  Is  not  debased  manhood 
something?  They  talk  about  the  circulation.  How  about  pumping  millions  and 
millions  of  damnation  into  the  body  politic  every  year?  There's  circulation 
for  you  !  One  of  the  great  parties,  I  '11  not  say  which,  is  afraid  of  the  Irish; 
another  one,  which  I  will  not  name,  is  afraid  of  the  Germans,  but  neither  of 
them  is  afraid  of  the  Lord  Almighty,  as  they  ought  to  be. 

The  saloon  question  is  the  serpent  in  the  path  of  the  public  man,  like  the 
serpent  that  the  Lord  placed  in  the  path  of  Moses,  which  only  needed  to  be 
taken  up  to  become  a  sceptre  of  regal  power.  The  saloon  is  the  breed- 
ing-place of  the  anarchist.  I  am  not  afraid  of  anarchy  if  you  will  close  up 
the  saloons.  It  is  not  the  red  flag  in  the  anarchist's  hands,  but  the  red  light 
of  the  saloon  on  the  corner  that  threatens  the  stability  of  American  institutions. 
The  real  anarchist  is  not  the  shock-head  fellow  who  carries  a  piece  of  lead 
pipe  under  his  coat,  but  the  saloon-keeper.  The  bogus  anarchist  we  hang;  the 
real  anarchist  we  make  an  alderman  out  of.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  pessimist 
who  predicted  catastrophe  to  the  country,  for  I  feel  sure  that  when  God  placed 
the  American  people  in  the  Western  world  he  intended  that  its  future  should 
be  great  and  glorious. 

The  audience  was  dismissed  with  a  benediction  by  Rev.  Dr.  Seymour, 
of  Philadelphia. 


FRIDAY  MORNING. 
Tent  Endeavor. 

The  praise  service  with  which  the  regular  meeting  began  was  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster. 

The  devotional  exercises,  consisting  of  responsive  Scripture  reading 
and  prayer,  were  led  by  Rev.  Hugh  T.  Stevenson,  of  Anacostia,  and  at 
their  conclusion  Rev.  John  T.  Beckley,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  who  presided 
over  the  meeting,  introduced  Mrs.  Francis  E.  Clark,  the  wife  of  the 
founder  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  she  was  given  the  Chautauqua  salute 
and  an  enthusiastic  greeting.  Mrs.  Clark  then  read  her  paper  on 
"  The  Mothers'  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

Address  of    Mrs.  Francis  E.  Clark. 

The  whole  object  and  purpose  of  the  Mothers' Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
is  really  included  in  the  first  sentence  of  their  pledge:  "Trusting  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise  him  that  I  will  strive  to  do  whatever  he 
would  have  me  do,  especially  that  I  will  endeavor  to  bring  the  children  to 
Christ  and  to  train  them  for  him."  Surely  Christian  mothers  everywhere  desire 
above  all  things  to  draw  nearer  Christ  themselves,  and  to  bring  their  children 
to  him  and  train  them  for  his  service.  Is  there  any  better  way  to  do  this  than 
by  banding  themselves  together  for  this  very  purpose  ?  There  are  now  a  few 


154  Official  Report  of  the 

societies  in  our  own  and  other  lands  which  have  taken  this  name  of  "  The 
Mothers'  Endeavor  Society,"  and  are  regularly  organized  and  pledged  to  do  this 
work. 

There  ought  to  be  in  every  church,  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called,  some 
organization  that  will  be  in  very  truth  a  Mothers'  Endeavor  Society,  an  organ- 
ization whose  definite  purpose  should  be  not  only  prayer,  but  prayer  and  work 
for  the  children.  There  are  already  in  many  of  our  churches  Alaternal  Asso- 
ciations and  ladies'  prayer  meetings,  having  for  their  object,  in  part  at  least, 
to  pray  for  the  children.  Why  could  not  these  organizations  pledge  themselves 
definitely  to  do  this  work  in  co-operation  with  the  Junior  Endeavor  Societies, 
even  if  they  do  not  care  to  change  their  own  name  or  have  a  more  formal 
organization?  Why  should  there  not  be  in  every  ladies'  prayer  meeting  or 
Maternal  Association  a  Junior  committee  whose  work  should  be  to  consult  with 
the  Junior  Superintendent  and  report  to  the  meeting  any  plans  for  helping 
the  children.  The  Junior  superintendent  might  be  invited  to  come  once  a 
quarter  to  the  mothers'  meeting  to  give  a  five-minute  talk  about  her  work,  its 
encouragements  and  perplexities  and  needs.  It  would  be  her  opportunity  to 
appeal  to  the  mothers  for  their  help  and  counsel  and  prayer. 

Could  it  not  be  planned  that  occasionally  the  little  Junior  secretary  or 
president  should  attend  the  mothers'  meeting  and  give  a  report  of  the 
work?  Perhaps  the  members  of  the  sunshine  committee  or  some  other  com- 
mittee might  sometimes  go  together  to  the  mothers'  meeting  and  tell  how  they 
are  trying  to  do  their  part  of  the  work,  and  ask  for  the  prayers  of  the  mothers. 
Perhaps,  too,  it  might  be  possible  to  plan  as  often  as  once  a  year  to  have  a 
union  meeting  of  ihe  mothers  and  the  Juniors,  when  both  societies  could  learn 
more  of  each  other's  work  and  be  drawn  into  closer  sympathy. 

The  meetings  of  the  Maternal  Association  in  many  churches  are  held  every 
month,  and  many  heartfelt  prayers  are  offered  for  the  children  :  and  yet  the  chil- 
dren themselves  know  little  or  nothing  about  it,  and  there  is  nothing  done  in  the 
way  of  following  up  these  prayers,  and  so  the  definite  results  are  not  what  they 
might  be. 

It  sometimes  happens,  too,  that  in  the  course  of  time  these  mothers'  meet- 
ings come  to  be  largely  grandmothers'  meetings,  because  the  younger  mothers 
do  not  attend. 

It  would  be  very  helpful  not  only  to  the  Junior  Societies,  but  to  these 
mothers'  meetings,  too,  if  they  could  in  these  ways  or  in  other  ways  be  more 
closely  connected  and  work  and  plan  together.  By  consulting  together,  new 
ways  of  working  would  be  always  opening  up  to  both  societies.  The  mothers 
would  find  many  ways  of  helping  the  children,  and  the  children  would  take 
great  pleasure  in  the  discovery  that  they,  too,  could  help  the  mothers  in  many 
little  ways. 

Suppose  the  mothers  should  decide  that  it  would  be  well  to  send  printed  or 
written  invitations  to  some  of  the  younger  mothers  who  do  not  attend  their 
meetings.  Surely  the  sunshine  committee  would  be  glad  to  divide  the  work 
among  themselves,  and  run  on  these  errands.  Do  all  the  mothers  of  Juniors  in 
the  church  attend  the  ladies'  prayer  meeting?  If  not,  then  it  might  be  well  to 
have  some  daintily  printed  cards  of  invitation  to  give  out  in  the  Junior  meeting, 
that  each  boy  or  girl  may  take  one  to  the  mother  at  home. 

It  would  be  well  that  quite  often  the  mothers  should  send  representatives 
from  their  meeting,  not  more  than  one  or  two  at  anyone  time,  to  visit  the 
Junior  meeting,  and  often  the  Junior  superintendent  would  be  glad  to  ask  one 
of  the  mothers  for  a  five-minute  talk  upon  the  topic  of  the  day  from  a  mother's 
standpoint. 

Let  the  Mothers'  Society  occasionally  give  a  social  to  the  Juniors,  and  let 
it  be  the  pleasantest  social  of  all  in  the  year.  Let  the  mothers  occasionally 
give  the  children  a  pleasant  surprise,  in  the  shape  of  a  new  banner,  or  some  new 
pledge-cards,  or  any  other  little  things  the  Juniors  may  be  needing,  and  a  new 
link  between  them  would  be  forged. 

If  some  such  plans  were  put  into  practice,  should  we  not  see  not  only  more 
children  coming  into  the  church,  and  growing  up  to  be  earnest  workers  there, 


Fiftec}itJi  Intcrnatio)ial  Convention.  155 

but  also  more  mothers  who  were  living  really  consecrated  lives,  and  who  were 
themselves  walking  more  carefully  in  the  way  they  would  see  their  children 
walk  ? 

Many  existing  Maternal  Associations  would  have  more  real  life  and  earnest- 
ness if  they  were  better  organized  for  definite  work,  with  perhaps  a  lookout 
committee  to  bring  in  new  members,  and  a  prayer-meeting  committee  to  select 
topics  and  arrange  leaders  for  the  meetings,  and  a  social  committee  to  arrange 
for  an  occasional  sociable  to  which  not  only  the  mothers,  but  sometimes  the 
babies,  should  be  invited,  with  a  committee  of  Juniors  to  entertain  them.  Some- 
thing of  this  sort  would  put  new  life  into  many  a  dead-and-alive  ladies'  prayer 
meeting;  and  if  the  mothers  were  thus  working  with  and  for  the  children,  it 
would  be  a  real  Mothers'  Endeavor  Society,  by  whatever  name  it  might  be 
called. 

May  God's  blessing  rest  upon  all  the  mothers  who  are  trying  in  any  way  to 
bring  the  children  to  Christ,  and  may  this  be  a  year  when  many  children  shall 
hear  the  voice  of  their  Saviour  saying  to  them,  "  Come  unto  me."  God  grant 
that  very  many  of  them  may,  indeed,  come  to  him,  and  may  begin  in  a  simple, 
childlike  way  to  be  about  their  Father's  business. 

The  next  speaker  was  Rev.  C.  L.  Work,  D.D.,  of  Cincinnati,  O., 
who  gave  his  address,  "The  School  of  Prayer." 

Address  of  Rev.  C.  L.  Work,  D.D.,  Cincinnati,  O. 

Luke  ii.  i  :  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray." 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  to-day  on  some  phases  of  prayer  as  seen  in  the  Bible. 
God's  people  are  as  weak  in  the  matter  of  prayer  as  elsewhere,  and  so  need  to 
be  taught  here  as  elsewhere. 

I.  There  is  a  school  of  prayer  for  God's  people.  If  God's  people  do  not 
know  how  to  peay  acceptably,  they  may  learn  to  do  so.  I  do  not  believe  that 
we  have  prayed  as  effectively  as  it  is  our  privilege  to  pray.  There  is  here  a 
magazine  of  powder  to  which  many  of  us  are  entire  strangers.  Prayer  is  a 
matter  in  which  to  make  progress  as  followers  of  Christ. 

There  are  several  things  which  indicate  the  existence  of  this  school:  (a) 
Christ's  conduct  when  he  was  asked  by  his  disciples  to  teach  them  to  pray.  He 
immediately  taught  them  the  Lord's  Prayer.  He  thinks  as  much  of  a  disciple 
now  as  then,  and  prayer  is  as  important  now  as  then.  If  it  were  important  that 
the  disciple  know  how  to  pray  then,  it  is  equally  as  important  now  ;  just  as  much 
depends  on  prayer  now  as  then,  {b)  Again,  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  connection 
with  the  matter  of  prayer  leads  us  to  believe  that  not  all  that  God  intends  to 
do  for  his  people  in  this  matter  has  been  done,  and  that  nothing  now  remains 
to  be  done.  We  are  directly  taught  that  "the  Spirit  helpeth  our  infirmities." 
Here  is  the  present  tense  of  the  word  "help,"  leading  us  to  understand  that  the 
work  is  a  continuous  one.  It  is  interesting  here  to  study  the  make-up  of  the 
Greek  word  translated  "helpeth."  The  word  is  "  sunantilambanetai ;  "  it  is  a 
word  made  up  of  three  others, — "sun,"  with  ;  "  anti,"  opposite,  and  "  lambane- 
tai,"  to  take  hold  of,  or  to  seize.  The  idea  is  that  the  Spirit  takes  hold  of  our 
burdens  and  crosses  and  duties  as  a  helper  opposite  us,  as  if  to  look  us  in  the 
face  and  lift  the  same  burden  with  us.  It  is  the  same  word  used  by  Martha 
when  she  asked  the  Lord  to  bid  Mary  to  come  and  help  her  with  her  household 
duties.  You  have  only  to  look  into  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans  to  see  that 
this  help  here  mentioned  is  in  reference  to  prayer,  and  you  will  also  see  that 
the  "  infirmities "  here  mentioned  are  infirmities  in  connection  with  prayer. 
The  time  never  was  when  God's  people  did  not  have  infirmities  or  weaknesses 
in  the  matter  of  prayer.  Hence  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  this  matter  must  be  a 
continuous  one.  He  will  show  us  our  sins,  and  thus  lead  us  to  confession  ;  he 
will  show  us  our  wants,  and  thus  lead  us  to  the  matter  of  petition  ;  he  will  show 
us  the  blessings  of  God,  and  thus  help  us  in  the  matter  of  thanksgiving ;  he  will 
show  us  the  dangers  of  the  lost,  and  thus  help  us  in  the  matter  of  intercession, 
and  in  many  other  ways  will  he  help  us  in  the  matter  of  prayer.     We  are  led  by 


156  Official  Report  of  the 

the  statements  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans  to  believe  that  there  is  a  pecu- 
liar part  of  expression  in  the  matter  of  prayer  that  only  the  Spirit  can  perform. 
His  helpfulness  comes  in  groanings  that  can  not  i^e  uttered.  To  excite  these  in 
the  one  who  prays  is  the  peculiar  work  of  the  Spirit.  They  seem  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  right  spirit  of  prayer  in  us,  and  hence  we  must  be  constant.  Thus  the 
work  of  the  school  of  prayer  goes  on.  There  is  a  school  of  prayer  for  God's 
people.  We  must  matriculate  in  this  school.  This  is  the  formula  of  matricu- 
lation :  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray."  Let  each  child  of  God  place  his  name  to  this 
matriculation  formula  in  the  school  of  prayer. 

2.  Under  certain  conditions  we  may  be  sure  of  prevailing  in  prayer.  This 
is  the  plain  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God.  If  this  be  not  the  correct  position 
to  occupy  in  this  matter,  then  I  fail  to  see  why  certain  records  are  found  in  the 
Word  of  God. 

Prevailing  prayer  is  not  something  into  which  we  can  plunge,  as  a  rule,  im- 
mediately, as  a  bird  rising  on  the  wing  from  the  ground.  There  is  precedent 
thought,  such  thought  and  realization  of  facts  and  the  relation  of  these  to  our 
present  and  future  condition  as  will  awaken  us  to  an  unusual  realization  of  our 
state  before  God.  It  is  a  condition  of  soul  or  state  of  mind  in  which  every- 
thing but  our  eternal  interests  is  most  insignificant.  Our  surroundings  are 
intended  to  agonize  us.  In  the  light  of  the  teaching  of  God's  Word,  how  sad 
the  condition  of  the  unsaved!  The  awful  Turk  is  throwing  Armenian  babies 
in  the  air  and  catching  them  on  his  bayonet  as  they  fall.  Many  mothers 
almost  faint  when  they  think  of  it.  But  think  of  a  child  damned  in  hell  for- 
ever. This  is  not  an  unbiblical  thought,  as  Paul  says  to  the  Galatians,  "  My 
little  children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again  until  Christ  be  formed  in  you." 
(Gal.  iv.  19.)  The  Psalmist  says,  "  Horror  hath  taken  hold  upon  me  because  of 
the  wicked  that  forsake  thy  law."  (Ps.  cxix.  53.)  Again  he  says,  "  Rivers  of  waters 
run  down  mine  eyes  because  they  keep  not  thy  law."  (Ps.  cxix.  136.)  Isaiah  saw 
the  coming  doom  of  the  unrepentant,  and  hear  his  words  :  "  I  will  weep  bitterly, 
labor  not  to  comfort  me,  because  of  the  spoiling  of  the  daughter  of  my  people." 
(Isa.  xxii.  4.)  Hear  Jeremiah :  "  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a 
fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of  the  daughter 
of  my  people."  (Jer.  ix.  i.)  It  is  our  duty  to  be  solemnly  moved  in  this  way. 
McCheyne  used  to  visit  his  dying  people  on  Saturday,  that  he  might  be  more 
moved  in  his  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath.  Whitfield  used  to  cry  out  before  his  vast  au- 
diences, "  Oh,  the  wrath  to  come,  the  wrath  to  come !"  and  then  sit  down  overcome 
with  emotion.  It  is  the  agony  of  Peter  in  the  hour  of  penitence  and  bitter  tears  ; 
it  is  the  agony  of  David  weeping  over  Absalom  ;  it  is  the  agony  of  the  Saviour,  as 
on  the'last  day  of  his  ministry  he  sat  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  cried  in  in- 
describable agony,  "  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye 
would  not."  (Matt,  xxiii.37.)  Would  to  God  that  his  people  were  thus  agonized 
all  over  the  land !  Only  when  this  agony  of  prayer  seizes  God's  people  will  we 
have  a  wide-spread  revival. 

3.  Another  Bible  idea  concerning  prayer  is  that  we  are  warranted  in  expect- 
ing answer  to  specific  petition  more  frequently  than  we  sometimes  think.  I  do 
not  think  that  the  explanation  is  universal  and  final  when  we  say  that  if  we  do 
not  get  what  we  ask  for  we  will  get  something  better.  That  is  a  lazy  Chris- 
tian's way  of  putting  it.  Why  do  we  not  get  just  what  we  ask  for.?  Our 
theory  is  that  the  Holy  Ghost  indicts  our  petitions,  he  suggests  our  prayers ;  but 
do  we  not  stultify  ourselves  when  we  pretend  to  pray  a  prayer  suggested  by  the 
Spirit,  and  then  explain  away  the  failure  to  get  an  answer  by  saying  that  if  we 
do  not  get  what  we  ask  for  we  will  be  sure  to  get  something  better }  My  humble 
opinion  is  that  under  such  circumstances  we  will  get  nothing.  Our  explanation 
does  not  explain.  It  is  in  some  sense  an  insult  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  the 
equivalent  of  saying  that  he  does  not  indict  the  petitions  of  his  people,  or  that 
he  made  a  mistake  and  indicted  the  wrong  petition.  The  only  proper  way  to 
do  is  to  say  that  we  have  prayed  a  petition  that  the  Holy  Ghost  did  not  suggest, 
and  therefore  we  will  get  no  answer  to  our  petition.     Now,  let  us  suppose  a  case. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  157 

We  pray  for  the  conversion  of  a  friend  and  our  petition  is  not  answered.  Now 
bring  in  the  stock  explanation  :  ''If  we  don't  get  what  we  ask  for  we  will  get 
something  better."  What  would  it  be?  What  could  it  be.?  The  only  explanation 
allowable  under  the  circumstances  is  that  while  the  specific  petition  for  the  con- 
version of  a  person  is  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  yet  he  did 
not  indict  such  a  petition  in  the  given  case  on  account  of  some  fault  in  the  one 
who  prayed.  God  can  not  answer  prayer  without  due  regard  for  the  character  of 
the  one  who  prays.  Just  here  let  me  say  that  there  is  great  need  that  we  so  live 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  can  be  able  to  indict  for  us  any  petition  that  may  suit  his 
purpose.  We  must  not  overlook  the  fact,  in  our  discussion  of  the  subject,  that 
prayer  under  God's  own  conditions  is  an  essential  link  in  the  chain  of  causes. 
Alas!  how  often  is  the  chain  broken  at  the  prayer  link.  Jacob  got  just  what  he 
asked  for  at  Jabbok;  Hezek'iah  got  just  what  he  asked  for  when  he  prayed  God 
to  spare  his  life;  Moses  got  what  he  asked  for  when  he  asked  the  Lord  to  spare 
the  children  of  Israel ;  John  Knox  got  what  he  asked  for  when  he  asked  for 
Scotland ;  Jesus  Christ  got  what  he  asked  for  when  in  the  garden  he  asked  that 
the  bitter  cup  might  pass  from  him.  He  did  not  there  pray  against  the  cross,  but 
against  the  bitterness  of  that  specific  hour  of  suffering  in  the  garden.  In  answer 
to  his  prayer  it  passed  away,  for  he  came  to  his  disciples  finally  with  words  of  vic- 
tory on  his  lips.  "  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your  rest :  it  is  enough."  (Mark  xiv.41.) 
What  we  all  need  most  is  to  so  pray  under  the  direct  and  specific  direction  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  that  we  will  ask  for  the  right  thing  and  get  it.  I  am  not  saved 
to  serve  until  I  am  so  saved  that  I  can  prevail  with  God  in  prayer.  Let  us  go 
to  our  Jabboks  and  Gethsemanes  of  prayer,  and  never  give  God  rest  till  he 
answer  all  our  Holy  Ghost  indicted  petitions.  "  Ye  that  make  mention  of  the  Lord, 
keep  not  silence,  and  give  him  no  rest,  till  he  establish,  and  till  he  make  Jerusa- 
lem a  praise  in  the  earth."  ( Isa.  Ixii.  6.7.)  The  drunkard  may  pray  specifically  for 
deliverance  from  his  cups,  and  be  contented  with  nothing  less  for  an  answer  to 
his  petition.  The  debauchee  may  pray  for  purity  and  get  it.  The  liar  must  pray 
for  truthfulness  and  get  it.  The  parent  ought  to  pray  for  the  conversion  of  his 
child,  and  not  be  contented  until  he  gets  exactly  what  he  asks  for.  It  is  our 
privilege  to  besiege  the  Throne  of  Grace  and  get  what  we  ask  by  the  teaching 
and  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

4.  I  ask  you,  in  the  next  place,  to  notice  the  importance  of  the  matter  of 
prayer  in  connection  with  revival,  as  seen  in  the  Word  of  God.  The  pente- 
costal  revival  was  preceded  by  a  ten-days'  prayer  meeting.  It  was  through 
prayer  that  Elijah  reached  the  reformation  of  the  people  in  his  day.  This  has 
always  been  the  rule  of  revival.  I  wish  I  had  tjme  to  follow  this  part  of  my 
subject  to  a  good  length.  In  a  little  book  entitled  "  Great  Revival  of  1800,"  you 
will  find  this  description  of  a  scene  down  in  old  Kentucky,  at  Cane  Ridge  :  — 

"  We  arrived  upon  the  ground,  and  here  a  scene  presented  itself  to  my  mind 
not  only  novel  and  unaccountable,  but  awful  beyond  description.  A  vast 
crowd,  supposed  by  some  to  have  amounted  to  25,000,  was  collected  together. 
The  noise  was  like  the  roar  of  Niagara.  The  vast  sea  of  human  beings  seemed 
to  be  agitated  by  a  storm.  I  counted  seven  preachers  all  preaching  at  one 
time,  some  on  stumps,  others  on  wagons,  etc.,"  and  this  is  but  a  fair  sample  of 
the  way  the  Spirit  wrought  among  men  in  those  days.  All  through  that  little 
book  to  which  I  have  referred  you  will  find  constant  reference  to  the  way  the 
people  prayed.  These  great  revivals  were  born  of  fervent,  prevailing  prayer. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Western  Pennsylvania  was  born  of  the  prayers  of 
Joseph  Patterson,  a  layman  in  Vance's  Fort,  in  the  winter  of  1778.  (Supra.)  If 
I  have  stated  the  relation  between  prayer  and  revival  correctly,  are  we  not  respon- 
sible, before  God,  if  we  do  not  down  to  our  knees  and  pray  all  Christendom  into 
a  white  heat  of  revival?  It  can  be  done;  it  must  be  done;  it  will  be  done, 
before  the  coniing  of  the  Blessed  Master.  If  you  follow  the  history  of  revivals 
you  will  find  that  they  have  always  been  the  times  of  earnest,  fervent,  and  con- 
tinued prayer.  Revivals  are  begotten  in  prayer,  born  in  prayer,  and  remain  with 
us  only  when  nurtured  by  prayer.  If  we  would  have  our  conventions  promotive 
of  revival,  we  must  not  forget  to  make  them  places  of  prayer.  It  is  all  well 
enough  to  gather  in  great  numbers,  wave  our  flags,  make  speeches  and  shake 


158  Official  Report  of  the 

the  hands  of  antipodal  delegates,  and  send  messages  of  greeting  to  the  distant 
corners  of  the  earth ;  but  unless  prayer  be  the  alpha  and  omega  of  it  all,  it  will 
be  useless. 

All  great  soul-winners  have  been  men  of  power  in  prayer.  It  is  said  of 
Richard  Baxter  that  he  stained  the  very  walls  of  his  study  with  the  breath  of 
prayer.  Here  I  can  best  express  myself  in  the  language  of  another:  "When 
the  disciples  prayed,  Pentecost  appeared;  when  John  Wesley  and  his  com- 
panions prayed,  England  was  refreshed ;  when  the  Sabbath-school  teachers  at 
Tanneybreaice prayed,  ii,ooo  were  added  to  the  Church  in  one  year; 'when  John 
Knox  prayed,  Scotland  was  revived ;  when  Luther  prayed,  the  papacy  was 
shaken;  when  Baxter  prayed,  Kidderminster  was  awakened;  and  in  the  lives  of 
Whitfield,  Payson,  Edwards,  Tennent,  whole  nights  of  prayer  were  succeeded 
by  whole  days  of  soul-winning."  ("  Outpourings  of  the  Spirit,"  page  136.) 

Let  us  down  to  our  knees,  and  may  Washington  City,  under  the  influence  of 
prevailing  prayer,  become  a  volume  of  flame  like  the  burning  bush  at  the  feet 
of  Moses ;  and  then  may  it  be  given  to  the  members  of  this  great  Convention  to 
carry  back  "  crosses  of  fire  "  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  earth. 

Dr.  Beckley  then  introduced  Mr.  Ira  D.  Sankey,  who  sang  the  hymn 
"The  Ninety  and  Nine,"  after  which  he  offered  prayer. 
The  next  subject  was  "The  Joy  of  Soul-Winning." 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  F.  Wilson,  Toronto,  Ont. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  the  discussion  of  our  subject,  that  we  define  the  soul. 
We  accept  the  statement  in  the  Bible  concerning  it,  "  as  being  satisfying  and 
sufficient." 

As  the  sword  is  not  the  soldier,  as  the  pen  is  not  the  poet,  as  the  chisel  is  not 
the  sculptor,  the  house  is  not  the  tenant,  neither  is  the  body  the  man;  but  soul 
and  body,  dust  and  deity,  combined  is  man. 

More  thought,  time,  and  money  is  invested  in  the  study  of  man  than  in  all 
other  subjects  in  the  world  together.  The  great  sages  and  seers  of  history  have 
established  schools  and  written  unnumbered  books  on  the  dignity,  fall,  and  re- 
demption of  man.  Sin  has  weakened  man's  body  and  dethroned  his  soul;  con- 
sequently man's  soul  is  one  of  God's  wandering  stars,  tarnished  jewels,  faded 
flowers,  and  lost  sheep;  and  to  win  back  this  treasure  is  difficult  in  the  extreme. 
You  can  easily  win  a  man's  money,  secure  his  vote,  gain  his  friendship,  or  have 
his  applause,  but  not  his  soul ;  yet,  marvelous  thought,  God  is  expecting  from 
man  service  in  winning  the  irnperishable  souls  of  men. 

Question  :  Which  is  worse,' a  Christless  man  or  a  manless  Christ  ?  —  the  vine 
with  no  branches  to  bear  the  flowers  and  fruits  that  cluster  in  the  character 
divine.  God  has  faith  in  Christ,  for  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  Christ  has  faith  in  himself, —  "And  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  I  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

Yes,  and  Christ  has  faith  in  man,  for  he  commissions  him  to  win  souls.  Not 
to  buy  them,  for  they  are  already  bought  with  the  precious  blood;  not  to  force 
them,  for  the  diadem  of  freedom  rests  on  every  brow;  not  to  convict  them, 
this  is  the  Spirit's  work ;  but  to  persuade  and  win  is  ours.  To  do  this  we 
must  get  rid  of  our  pride  and  fear;  these  paralyze  and  destroy.  _  Remember 
God's  your  Master.  Remember  how  he  helped  David  with  his  sling,  and 
Paul  in  Nero's  prison;  and  he  is  still  able  to  save  and  sustain  to  the  uttermost. 

All  have  not  the  same  opportunities  to  work,  nor  the  same  gifts  and  graces 
for  work.     There  are  those  with  two  talents  and  those  with  ten. 

God  gives  one  man  great  eyes  to  see.  He  thus  blest  Dickens  and  said, 
"  Charles,  write  me  a  book  against  England's  school  and  social  wrongs,"  and 
he  did.  To  another  he  gives  great  courage ;  he  thus  endowed  Washington,  and 
said,  "  George,  strike  for  liberty,"  and  the  thirteen  jewel  States  were  freed.  He 
gave  Spurgeon  a  great  voice ;  he  gave  Livingstone  great  faith,  and  George 
Peabody  great  wealth.  But  before  them  all  he  gave  our  own  Clark  great  plans, 
and  said,  "  Francis,  organize  for  me,"  and  he  did ;  and  here  gathered  in  the 


Fifteeftth  International  Convctition.  159 

capital  of  the  greatest  Republic  beneath  the  stars  is  this  world-famed  Conven- 
tion, because  Francis  E.  Clark  found  unspeakable  joy  in  winning  souls.  Daniel 
Webster  once  said,  "  The  day  will  come  when  the  proudest  boast  of  man 
will  be  'I  am  an  American.'"  No,  Daniel,  there  is  something  even  better 
than  that;  it's  this  :  "  I  am  a  Christian," — a  working  Christian,  a  joyful  Chris- 
tian, winning  precious  souls  to  shine  in  the  diadem  that  spans  the  brow  of 
Christ.     Oh  the  joy  of  soul-winning  ! 

First,  there  is  the  joy  of  knowing  you  helped  to  bring  light,  life,  liberty, 
and  love  to  the  sin-enslaved  of  our  world. 

Men  have  done  much  to  win  liberty  for  their  fellow  men.  To  this  Cromwell, 
Garibaldi,  and  Wellington  gave  their  splendid  powers;  but  before  them  all  is  the 
imperishable  Lincoln,  whose  name  shall  live  linked  with  liberty  long  as  thought 
and  heart  shall  live. 

Intellectual  freedom  has  had  its  champions.  The  names  of  Huss,  Luther, 
Ridley,  and  Bunyan  are  stars  that  shall  never  dim  nor  die.  But  to  impart  spirit- 
ual liberty  surpasses  all  the  service  ever  rendered  by  the  ransomed  powers  of 
man. 

You  remember  the  story  of  England  sending  General  Napier  and  an  army  of 
10,000  men  to  Magdala  in  Abyssinia  to  liberate  a  single  prisoner  —  spending 
^25,000,000?  What  for.-"  To  show  the  world  the  English  flag  guarantees  life 
and  liberty  to  all  who  claim  its  protection.  But,  soul-winner,  your  object  is  the 
soul,  and  all  God  has  is  in  it.  He  breathed  it  into  man.  He  gave  Jesus  Christ 
to  ransom  it.  His  Holy  Spirit  comforts  it.  His  angels  minister  to  it.  His 
heaven  is  prepared  for  it.     Oh,  think  of  your  work  ! 

I  do  not  undervalue  the  great  blessings  and  benefits  conferred  upon  the 
human  race  by  the  noble  spirits  of  the  ages.  John  Howard  brought  hope  to 
the  imprisoned;  Florence  Nightingale  brought  joy  to  the  suffering;  at  this  hour 
Clara  Barton  in  the  wilds  of  Armenia  is  battling  with  pestilence,  disease,  and 
hunger.  Yet,  Christlike  as  all  these  services  are,  they  are  eclipsed  by  the  joy 
of  winning  man's  deathless  nature  to  the  life  and  service  of  Christ. 

Then,  fellow  Endeavorers,  remember  you  are  pledged  workers,  inspired 
workers  Christ  is  your  model,  and  "  The  world  for  Christ  "  is  your  motto.  Make 
your  service  joyful,  ever  remembering  "  They  who  turn  many  to  righteousness 
shall  shine  as  the  stars  forever." 

Second,  there  is  the  joy  in  soul-winning  of  knowing  that  the  world's  purity, 
charity,  and  service  for  Christ  is  increased ;  in  other  words,  you  multiply  good- 
ness. Ananias,  who  helped  Paul  to  Christ,  was  multiplied  a  thousand  times  in 
the  unquenchable  zeal  of  the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles.  Andrew,  who  led 
his  brother  Peter  to  the  Messiah,  was  multiplied  ten  thousand  times  in  the  un- 
paralleled service  rendered  the  cause  of  righteousness  by  the  preacher  of  Pen- 
tecost, under  whose  ministry  three  thousand  were  added  to  the  Church  in  a 
single  day. 

Oh  the  joy  of  multiplying  goodness  !  Who  started  John  Knox  Christward? 
What  voice  called  John  Bunyan  from  the  slums  of  sin  ?  What  worker  first 
quickened  the  spiritual  energies  of  John  Wesley,  General  Booth,  and  our  own 
Francis  E.  Clark  'i 

Pardon  a  personal  illustration.  Some  years  ago,  in  a  small  Canadian  town, 
there  was  a  devoted  cripple  girl  who  took  six  boys,  and  never  ceased  to  pray 
with  and  work  for  them  until  she  saw  every  one  of  them  in  the  ministry  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Her  pulseless  form  sleeps  in  the  village  graveyard.  No 
sculptured  stone  bears  the  record  of  her  name,  and  yet.  methinks,  not  until 
the  last  sermon  has  been  preached  and  the  last  prayer  has  been  offered  will  it 
be  known  how  much  good,  under  God,  she  mothered. 

Oh  this  joy,  when  the  sunset  hours  of  life  have  come,  when  we  shall  look 
back  and  thank  God  we  increased  the  spiritual  service  of  man  for  Christ ! 

Third,  there  is  the  joy  of  knowing  you  are  engaged  in  a  work  that  will 
always  give  intense  satisfaction.  This  is  what  we  all  want.  We  live  for  it ;  we 
toil  for  it;  and  work  for  Christ  alone  will  give  it.  A  person  might  discover  a 
continent,  as  did  Columbus,  and  yet  die  in  misery,  as  did  he ;  or  compose  an 
immortal  song,  as  did  Mozart,  and  yet  die  in  poverty,  as  did  he;  or  create  an 


160  Official  Report  of  the 

empire,  like  Napoleon,  and  yet  die  in  exile,  as  did  he.  But  in  soul-winning  it  is 
different;  this  service  gives  joy  and  satisfaction  the  passing  years  shall  never 
dim. 

Surely,  if  material  service  could  satisfy,  the  matchless  Gladstone,  of  all  men, 
would  be  most  happy  ;  but  what  are  the  facts  1  During  the  past  few  months  he 
has  dedicated  his  splendid  powers  to  the  writing  of  a  book  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  spiritual  enrichment  of  his  fellow  men. 

It  seems  to  me  Christ's  greatest  joy  was  in  winning  souls.  He  was  mis- 
understood by  his  nation,  persecuted  by  his  Church,  betrayed  by  his  disciples, 
forsaken  by  his  friends,  and  crucified  by  his  enemies.  His  burden  was  very 
heavy,  and  his  Hfe  was  very  sad.  But  he  received  satisfaction,  not  from  the 
number  of  blind  and  diseased  ones  that  he  had  cured,  but  that  he  had  helped 
many  precious  souls  to  see  His  light  and  know  his  love.  So  with  us  ;  our  soul- 
winning  is  our  capital  beyond  the  stars. 

Lastly,  there  is  the  joy  of  expectant  reward;  the  glorious  home-coming, 
bringing"  our  sheaves  with  us.  There  is  the  reward  of  seeing  Jesus;  there  is  the 
reward  of  meeting  the  good  of  all  the  ages ;  there  is  the  reward  of  meeting  old 
companions  and  near  and  dear  friends ;  but  greatest  of  all,  there  is  the  reward  of 
seeing  those  whom  we  have  helped  to  save,  and  of  being  introduced  by  them  to 
Christ  before  an  assembled  world.  And  now,  as  every  soldier  steps  forward  in 
obedience  to  the  command  of  his  officer,  so  may  the  representatives  of  all  the 
churches  in  this  great  Convention  step  forward  in  obedience  to  the  command 
of  our  Lord,  to  speedily  take  the  kmgdoms  of  this  world  for  our  God  and  his 
Christ. 

After  a  moment  of  silent  prayer,  the  congregation  joined  in  singing 
"Throw  Out  the  Life-Life." 

Rev.  John  W.  Beckett,  of  Baltimore,  then  sang  "Jesus,  Saviour,  Pilot 
Me." 

Next  was  the  unrolling  of  the  missionary  roll  of  honor  by  the  Rev. 
Chas.  S.  Lane,  of  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y.  The  roll  of  honor  was  pro- 
duced, and  Rev.  Mr.  Lane  spoke  as  follows  : — 

Remarks  of  Rev.  C.  S.  Lane,  Mount  Vernon,  N.  V. 

If  Mr.  Moody  at  Boston  could  count  it  one  of  the  opportunities  of  his  life  to 
address  that  gathering,  I  may  well  count  it  a  double  honor  and  privilege  to  be 
thus  placed  upon  the  programme  to  speak  even  for  five  minutes  upon  the  great 
cause  of  missions;  for  this  is  not  only  a  grand  Convention,  but  the  theme  is  the 
grandest  that  can  claim  our  thoughts.  Whether  we  regard  the  actual  triumph 
of  missions  in  the  changed  lines  of  individuals  and  communities,  in  the  glorious 
possibilities,  the  dawn  of  which  has  brightened  the  amazing  record  of  missions, 
its  lofty  motives,  its  record  of  personal  heroism  and  saintly  character,  or  whether 
we  think  of  it  as  the  simple,  straightforward  obedience  to  the  King's  command, 
in  every  aspect  it  is  the  grandest  work  that  can  claim  the  intelligence,  the  inter- 
est, the  enthusiasm,  and  the  energy  of  consecrated  hearts  and  lives. 

The  five  minutes  allotted  to  this  service  is  not  our  estimate  of  its  importance, 
but  only  that  it  is  the  spirit  of  Christian  Endeavor  not  so  much  to  dwell  upon 
what  it'has  done  as  to  look  forward  to  what  there  is  still  to  do.  So  we  give 
longer  time  to  addresses  of  instruction  and  inspiration  than  to  recounting  our 
past  achievements;  but  it  is  my  privilege  to  unroll  this  missionary  roll  of  honor. 
It  contains  the  names  of  those  societies  which  have  contributed  to  the  home 
and  foreign  missions  abroad  for  their  own  church  during  the  past  year.  In 
Boston,  the  honorary  roll  was  made  up  of  those  who  had  given  a  certain  small 
amount.  There  were  certain  objections  to  that  money  limit,  and  it  was  a  very 
small  one ;  but  it  was  one  that  if  you  were  going  to  give  anything  you  would  give 
as  much  as  $io,  and  it  was  felt  that  the  naming  of  a  sum  perhaps  made  some 
think  that  that  was  all  they  needed  to  give,  and  so  there  was  nothing  said  about 
an  amount  this  year,  and  all  that  have  given  to  the  missions  for  their  own 


The  WASHINGTON  Monument,  Showing  Floral  Des 


Fifteenth  International  Convcntio7i,  161 

church  recognize  their  obligations,  and  in  that  way  are  on  the  roll  of  honor. 
And  there  are,  as  Mr.  Baer  told  us  yesterday,  5,869  of  these  societies,  besides 
2,331  Junior  Societies  of  honor  of  the  boys  and  girls  that  are  beginning  to  bear 
tlie  burdens  of  the  Church.  There  are  8,200  societies,  as  against  5,500  last  year. 
The  thing  is  growing.  The  tide  is  rising,  and  they  come  from  all  over  this 
country.  Is  your  society  on  the  list  ?  Well,  it  ought  to  be  next  year  if  it  is  not 
this.     We  ought  to  have  them  all  on  the  roll. 

We  only  unroll  it  in  the  figure  of  speech.  I  would  like  to  give  one  end  of  it 
into  somebody's  hand  to  be  carried  out  to  the  end  of  the  tent,  but  you  would 
have  to  carry  it  out  there  and  back  and  back,  I  do  not  know  how  many  times, 
for  there  is  no  room  here  to  unroll  it.     It  is  600  feet  long. 

Before  I  tell  you  more,  as  magnificent  as  this  roll  of  honor  appears  in  its 
physical  form,  it  is  far  greater  in  what  it  stands  for.  For  one  thing,  this  roll  of 
honor  is  the  answer  to  those  who  have  any  question  as  to  the  loyalty  of  our 
Endeavor  Societies  to  their  own  denominations.  There  have  always  been 
those  who  have  feared  —  and  there  may  be  a  few  left  —  that  the  young  people 
may  be  drawn  away  from  allegiance  to  their  own  church,  and  that  they  may 
lose  something  that  binds  them  to  the  church  of  their  fathers.  But  one  of  our 
prmciples  of  Christian  Endeavor  is  loyalty  to  one's  own  church.  If  there  is 
anything  Dr.  Clark  insists  upon  with  greater  fidelity  or  with  more  burning 
eloquence  than  he  does  anything  else,  this  roll  of  honor  is  one  witness  to  it. 
It  is  the  record  not  of  money  given  to  them  for  miscellaneous  causes,  good  enough 
in  their  way;  not  of  money  given  for  missions  in  general;  but  of  money  given 
to  the  mission  boards  of  our  respective  churches, —  the  official  channels  through 
which  we  are  to  give.  This  roll  of  honor  is  one  record  of  our  loyalty  to  our 
own  churches,  and  then,  too,  this  roll  of  honor  stands  as  an  answer  to  those 
who  think  that  Christian  Endeavor  has  a  kind  of  sentimental  gush,  and  is  a  sort 
of  annual  religious  jubilee.  Those  of  us  who  are  in  it  know  that  Christian 
Endeavor  means  Christian  work,  week  in  and  week  out,  the  whole  year  round; 
and  this  roll  of  honor  stands  for  not  merely  an  enthusiasm  of  words  and  songs, 
but  the  kind  of  enthusiasm  that  is  transmuted  into  downright  service  and  hard 
dollars  and  cents.  It  used  to  be  said  that  the  prayer  meeting  was  the  ther- 
mometer of  the  Church.  There  is  a  profound  truth  in  that,  of  course,  and  yet 
is  it  not  a  practical  truth  to-day  that  the  test  of  a  church's  piety  or  an  individ- 
ual's piety  is  in  their  foreign  missionary  collection  ?  How  clearly  and  how 
fully  do  we  recognize  our  obligations  to  God  ?  And  this  roll  stands  for  the  loy- 
alty we  have  to  our  own  church  ;  it  stands  for  our  loyalty  to  God's  work,  the 
expression  of  our  purpose  that  we  will  do  what  we  can,  that  we  will  use  what 
God  has  given  us  for  his  service  and  his  glory.  May  I  not  urge  also  as  a 
thought  to  lie  under  all  these  and  to  lead  us  to  larger  giving,  that  Christianity 
is  essentially  a  missionary  religion  1  That  is  a  great  deal  more  than  saying  that 
missions  are  important.  Christianity  is  essentially  in  its  very  nature  a  mission- 
ary religion.  Missions  are  a  part  of  Christianity, —  so  much  a  part  of  it  that  it 
is  not  the  real  Christianity  without  missions. 

The  church  in  whose  pastorate  I  have  the  honor  to  serve,  fifty  years  ago 
wrote  its  platform  of  principles  in  this  matter  :  "  The  Presbyterian  Church  is  a 
missionary  society  whose  purpose  is  the  conversion  of  the  world,  and  every 
member  of  the  church  is  a  member  of  that  society,  bound  to  do  all  he  can  in 
the  prosecution  of  that  work."  And  about  the  same  time  the  church  used  these 
words  also :  "  The  time  has  now  come  "  (and  remember  that  was  fifty  years  ago ; 
how  much  more  must  it  be  true  now  !)  "that  no  church  and  hardly  any  indi- 
vidual can  refrain  from  giving  something  systematically  to  missions  without 
grave  dishonor  and  sin."  We  cannot  be  indifferent.  The  work  of  missions 
rests  upon  our  hearts,  and  I  plead  with  the  Christian  Endeavor  members  of 
this  host  to  plead  with  God  for  the  cause ;  be  honest  in  our  faith,  and  let  us  lift 
the  burdens  of  the  heathen  of  the  world  not  lightly  with  our  finger-tips,  but  let 
us  pray  God  with  strong  crying  and  tears  for  mercy  not  only  upon  our  Christ- 
less  brethren  across  the  sea,  but  upon  the  Christlessness  of  our  own  souls,  upon 
our  shallow  sympathies,  our  hollow  self-denials,  our  callousness  to  the  evils  of 


162  Official  Report  of  the 

the  world,  that  we  take  up  this  work  for  which  God  pledged  his  Son  and  to 
which  that  Son  gave  his  life. 

The  Hampton  Octette  then  rendered  the  song,  "  Let  the  Heavenly 
Light  Shine  on  Me." 

Dr.  Beckley  :  There  is  a  motto  that  hangs  in  our  homes,  "The  Lord 
will  provide,"  and  the  Lord  arranges  our  programmes  for  us  often  after  we 
have  made  our  own  arrangements  and  printed  the  programme,  and  sometimes 
the  very  best  programmes  are  those  that  have  been  arranged  after  the  meeting 
begins.  We  will  not  be  able  to  hear  from  the  last  speaker  on  the  programme 
to-day,  but  the  Lord  has  sent  Bishop  Baldwin,  of  Canada,  and  I  know  you  all 
will  rejoice  in  the  privilege  of  hearing  him  now. 

Address  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Morris  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  London,  Ont. 

My  friends,  I  only  speak  because  I  feel  that  I  have  been  called  upon  to  do 
so,  and  I  recognize  a  liigher  power  than  the  chairman.  I  therefore  would  say 
but  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of  Christian  power,  and  I  would  begin  by  af- 
firming that  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  power  of  God  in  the  highest  and 
most  unrestricted  sense.  God  has  given  us  what  power  is  in  the  Gospel  of  his 
Son,  and  I  would  therefore  point  your  attention  this  morning  to  the  evidence 
of  that  power  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

Now,  to  begin  with,  we  find  that  the  Church  of  God  is  not  a  granite  build- 
ing, not  some  huge,  immobile  structure,  but  a  tree,  living,  growing,  and  expand- 
ing, whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  The  simile  of  the  church 
is  not  stone.  It  is  not  that  which  is  fastened  and  secured  and  absolutely  with- 
out motion,  but  something  whose  progress  is  commensurate  with  the  great  mis- 
sion of  our  Lord;  and  therefore  a  church  without  power  is  like  Samson 
without  his  locks.  It  is  an  anomaly.  And  wherever  we  see  pulpits  without 
power,  wherever  we  see  communities  that  are  rich  and  where  perhaps  the  Gos- 
pel is  preached,  yet  where  there  is  an  absence  of  power,  we  see  something  that 
is  in  direct  contravention  to  the  whole  economy  of  God.  Now  when  we  look  at 
God's  power  we  see  this  manifested  in  the  work  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
God  the  Holy  Ghost  is  that  mighty  power  by  which  God  communicates  life, 
refreshes  the  weary,  strengthens  the  weak,  and  brings  back  millions  to  the  fold 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Now  let  me  ask  you  to  notice  that  there  are  four  rivers 
mentioned  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  it  is  to  these  four  rivers  that  I  would  draw 
your  attention  this  morning.  They  are  rivers  that  bring  us  to  that  work  of 
God  the  Holy  Ghost  to  which  I  have  referred. 

The  first  river  is  that  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  where  we  see  one  great 
river  flowing  through  the  garden  and  dividing  itself  into  four  great  streams, 
showing  that  for  the  garden  there  was  blessed  refreshment  and  power,  a  power 
that  went  forth  over  the  great  nations  of  the  earth. 

Secondly,  we  see  another  river, —  and  it  is  mentioned  in  the  Psalms, —  that 
river  the  streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God.  It  is  the  same  river, 
but  it  is  here  in  the  city.  It  makes  glad,  and  the  Psalmist,  in  speaking  about 
the  tumultuous  life  around  him,  says,  "Therefore  will  we  not  fear,  though  the 
earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of  the 
sea."  There  is  a  river  which  is  the  broad,  deep,  glorious  river  that  flows  to 
make  glad  the  city  of  our  God. 

Now,  dear  friends,  the  city  here  is  the  Church  of  God,  and  that  river  is  the 
same  stream.  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  that  is  to  make  glad  the  Church  of  God — 
not  the  wealthy  millionaire,  not  the  rank  nor  the  power  of  \\\z  people,  but  what 
is  to  make  glad  the  Church  of  God  is  the  presence,  the  power,  and  the  manifes- 
tation of  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  takes  the  sorrow  out  of  our  hearts  and  fills 
our  dim  eyes  with  joy. 

The  third  river  is  that  just  mentioned  in  the  book  of  the  prophet  Heze- 
kiah.  It  is  the  river  that  comes  out  of  the  temple,  and  it  flows  from  that  tem- 
ple in  an  ever-increasing  stream.  First,  it  is  only  ankle-deep;  then  it  is  to  the 
knees ;  then  it  is  to  the  waist ;  and  at  last  it  is  the  great  river  that  one  cannot 


Fifteenth  Liteniational  Conventioji.  163 

possibly  wade,  and  that  river  is  the  same  mighty  and  Holy  Spirit  that  is  going 
forth  from  the  temple  of  God.  It  is  the  Church  Christ  has  purchased,  and  if 
the  Church  is  to  do  its  work,  that  river  must  flow  out  again,  broadening,  deep- 
ening, expanding,  the  river  of  God's  Most  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  deepening  of  his 
work  and  the  gathering-in  of  souls  against  the  coming  of  our  Lord. 

And,  lastly,  there  is  a  river,  and  it  is  the  same  river  that  in  the  fourth 
instance  is  close  up  to  the  throne  of  God.  The  first  was  the  river  of  the  gar- 
den ;  the  second,  the  river  of  the  city  ;  the  third  is  the  river  of  the  temple ;  and  the 
fourth  is  the  river  of  the  throne,  and  it  issues  from  the  throne  of  God,  show- 
ing us  where  that  Holy  Spirit  comes  from  —  not  from  the  councils  of  men,  not 
from  human  cause,  but  fresh  from  the  throne  of  God,  flowing  forever  and  for- 
ever out  upon  this  vast  world,  for  strength,  for  healing,  and  for  power.  And 
what  does  this  Holy  Spirit  teach  .''  With  this  I  conclude.  Just  as  the  magnet 
of  the  compass  points  only  to  the  north,  though  storm  and  sunshine  come  upon 
it  it  is  always  to  the  north,  so  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  ages  upon  ages 
keeps  pointing  to  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 
And  I  say  to  you,  dear  young  men  and  Endeavorers  of  this  vast  conference, 
you  will  receive  abundantly  that  river  of  joy  into  your  own  hearts.  Tell  it  to 
the  old,  ere  they  sink  into  eternity ;  tell  it  to  the  young  in  the  freshness  and 
vigor  of  life ;  tell  it  to  the  men  of  business,  absorbed  with  the  rush  and  turmoil 
of  their  work :  that  there  stands  before  them  that  great  Redeemer  whose  blood 
can  cleanse  them  from  their  sins,  and  who  waits  to  be  gracious.  You  have  no 
exhausted  brook  to  draw  from,  but  a  river  broad  and  deep,  that  makes  glad  the 
city  of  our  God.  Drink  of  it,  bathe  in  it,  and  go  forth  in  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  and  let  your  life  be  a  laying-down  of  your  homage  at  the  Saviour's  feet 
to  gather  in  souls  against  that  great  day  when  Jesus  Christ  shall  come  again  in 
the  glory  of  his  Father  to  take  his  waiting  bride  and  place  her  forever  in  the  joy 
of  heaven. 

Central  Hall. 

Owing  to  the  fall  of  Tent  Williston,  the  big  meeting  which  was  to 
have  been  held  there  took  place  at  Central  Hall. 

President  Clark  was  present  at  Central  Hall  and  presided  over  the 
meeting.  A  large  section  of  the  chorus  was  on  hand,  and  the  first  half- 
hour  was  devoted  to  a  musical  service,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  P.  P. 
Bilhorn,  of    Chicago. 

When  Dr.  Clark  advanced  to  the  stand  to  formally  open  the  exercises 
he  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  applause,  as  he  is  every  time  he  comes 
before  an  Endeavor  audience. 

The  devotional  exercises  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Adam  Keoch,  of 
Washington. 

The  first  topic  was  "The  Intermediate  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

Address  of  Rev.  Chas.  A.  Dickinson,  D.D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  Intermediate  Society  is  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  as  a 
whole  what  the  trunk  is  to  the  tree.  It  is,  or  should  be,  that  part  of  the  organ- 
ism which  connects  the  roots  and  branches.  It  conserves  and  regulates  the 
flow  and  counterflow  of  those  influences  which  are  to  determine  the  character 
and  quantity  of  the  blossoms  and  fruit.  It  covers  that  nexus  of  critical  years 
which  joins  infancy  to  young  manhood  and  womanhood. 

The  discussion  of  the  question  at  this  time  is  but  a  natural  result  of  that 
wonderful  evolution  which  has  characterized  the  Endeavor  movement  from  the 
beginning. 

Each  succeeding  year  has  presented  to  the  common  sense  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  hosts  its  special  questions,  and  most  of  these  questions  have  been 


164  Official  Report  of  the 

followed  by  practical  and  helpful  solutions.  Thus  the  work  has  grown  from 
the  tiny  beginning  to  the  world-spreading  tree. 

In  speaking  of  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  it  goes  without  saying  that  it  requires 
as  much  care  as  the  root  and  branches. 

Trunk-shielding  and  trunk-straightening  and  trunk-pruning  are  some  of  the 
most  important  parts  of  arboriculture.  I  have  seen  a  row  of  maples  every  one 
of  which  was  scorched  and  shriveled  on  the  southern  side  the  first  year  after 
they  were  transplanted.  Their  trunks  were  not  protected  from  the  burning  sun, 
and,  as  a  result,  they  will  always  have  a  mass  of  dead  wood  at  the  core.  The 
woods  and  fields  are  full  of  crooked  trees  which  might  have  been  straight  had 
withes  and  stakes  been  applied  to  them  when  they  were  young. 

The  adolescent  age,  comprising  the  early  "teens,"'  is  in  a  special  sense  the 
trunk-training  age.  Everything  depends  upon  the  protecting,  straightening, 
and  pruning  which  are  given  during  this  period.  It  is  here  that  the  tendencies 
of  infancy  are  strengthened  or  perverted;  here  that  the  man  or  the  woman  is 
shaped;  here  that  the  tremendous  dynamos  of  passion  and  ambition  and  aspira- 
tion are  changed  for  life's  weal  or  woe. 

It  is  here  that  the  Intermediate  Society  does  its  gracious  and  beneficial 
work. 

In  my  judgment,  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  owes  its  phenomenal 
success  and  great  prosperity  to  the  fact  that  it  started  as  an  Intermediate 
Society,  and  adapted  itself  from  the  very  outset  to  the  peculiar  needs  and  perils 
of  the  adolescent  period.  The  first  society  was  composed  very  largely  of  boys 
and  girls. 

It  was  this  class  which  most  troubled  the  ministers  twenty  years  ago. 
"What  shall  we  do  with  them?"  said  fathers  and  mothers  and  clergymen. 
"  Where  will  they  be  safe  "i  They  are  too  big  for  the  cradle  and  too  small  for  the 
church."  "  Take  them  under  the  wing  of  the  church  and  organize  them  into  a 
working  society,"  said  Dr.  Clark.  Take  them  while  they  are  plastic  and  train 
them  in  Christian  service.  Give  them  five  or  six  years  of  continuous  practice 
in  Christian  thought  and  prayer  and  expression  and  activity,  and  when  they 
are  eighteen  they  will  be  shapely  young  men  and  women. 

This  was  the  God-appointed  mission  of  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor, 
It  was  here  that  it  did  a  work  which  no  other  organization  had  done,  and  it  is 
only  by  adhering  closely  to  its  original  charter  that  it  can  hope  to  continue  its 
beneficent  influence. 

The  years  in  their  merciless  revolution  push  us  forever  on.  Youth  comes 
but  once  in  a  lifetime.  The  boys  and  girls  of  the  first  society  are  now  the 
young  men  and  women  of  the  community.  The  happy  tendency  is  to  forget  the 
flight  of  years,  however,  and  to  imagine  we  are  still  the  original  Endeavorers. 
And  it  is  just  possible  that,  with  this  sense  of  our  own  perennial  youth  increas- 
ing, even  under  our  gray  hairs,  we  may  forget  the  real  boys  and  girls  who  are 
just  now  jumping  out  of  their  cradles  into  the  shoes  we  wore  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  ago,  and  so  pulling  the  Endeavor  Society  along  with  us  into  middle  life, 
leave  no  adequate  provision  for  the  young  folks  who  come  after  us. 

This  tendency  has  been  noted  in  some  of  our  churches.  There  is  a  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  those  who  were  boys  and  girls  fifteen  years  ago  to  separate 
themselves  from  those  who  are  fifteen  years  old  to-day,  and  to  monopolize  the 
privileges  of  the  Society.  They  do  this  almost  unconsciously.  And  herein  is 
the  danger  which  threatens  the  permanency  of  the  Society,  and  which,  unless 
arrested,  will  tend  to  make  the  Endeavor  movement  the  convenience  of  a  single 
generation,  instead  of  what  we  believe  that  it  is  designed  to  be,  the  blessing  of 
the  ages. 

The  Intermediate  Society  is  adapted  to  avert  this  danger  and  solve  the  many 
difficulties  connected  with  it. 

The  formation  of  Junior  Societies  was  an  important  step  toward  establishing 
that  law  of  circularity  by  which  organizations  and  institutions  become  perma- 
nent through  the  infusion  from  year  to  year  of  the  fresh  young  life  of  the  com- 
munity, but  there  is  a  long  distance  between  the  Juniors  and  adult  societies.  The 
graduate  from  the  Junior  Society  is  in  no  sense  fitted  to  become  an  active  mem- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  165 

ber  in  the  older  society,  as  it  exists  to-day  in  most  of  our  churches.  He  does 
not  feel  at  home  there.  He  is  overshadowed  and  silenced.  I  am  not  sure  but 
that  this  fact  will  become  so  apparent  as  the  evolution  of  the  Society  goes  on 
that  some  such  provision  as  the  intermediate  department  will  seem  to  be  a  ne- 
cessity in  every  church.  Indeed,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  Intermediate 
Society  in  future  years  will  be  considered  as  the  essential  part  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement. 

For  some  years  to  come,  however,  this  need  will  not  be  so  much  felt  as  it 
will  be  when  the  present  societies  have  practically  become  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  churches  and  have  assumed  the  work  and  responsibilities  of  the  older  gener- 
ation. In  the  larger  churches  the  need  is  felt  to-day.  The  societies  in  these 
churches  are,  as  a  rule,  too  large  for  the  conscientious  fulfilment  of  the  pledge 
and  the  most  efficient  service. 

They  are  made  up  of  many  adults  who,  because  of  their  larger  experience, 
are  expected  to  assume  the  official  duties  and  do  most  of  the  planning  and 
talking. 

Several  years  ago  it  was  thought  advisable  in  a  number  of  these  large 
churches  to  break  up  these  societies  into  division  bands,  in  order  to  secure  a 
more  general  participation  in  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the  meetings,  and  the 
formation  of  the  intermediate  branch  is  one  of  the  results  of  that  movement. 

In  my  own  church  we  organized  some  two  years  ago  a  second,  or  inter- 
mediate, division,  which  comprises  to-day  some  sixty  of  the  brightest  boys  and 
girls  of  the  parish,  whose  average  age  is  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years.  They 
are  full  of  life  and  fire.  They  are  sometimes  mischievous.  They  once  in  a 
while  laugh  out  in  meeting  and  do  things  which  the  good  old  saints  consider 
very  frivolous;  but  on  the  whole  they  are  ideal  Endeavorers,  full  of  the  spirit  of 
ministration,  genuinely  devout,  earnestly  desirous  to  serve  the  Lord  and  obey 
his  commands. 

One  of  the  pastors  of  the  church  is  always  present  at  their  meetings.  Advice 
and  direction  are  given  when  needed.  They  are  always  amenable  to  loving 
guidance,  and  under  it  they  give  promise  of  becoming  a  strong  right  arm  of  the 
church.  They  are  learning  what  few  adult  Christians  learn  in  their  youth; 
namely,  that  Christian  life  means  service.  A  little  five-year-old  nephew  of 
mine  said  to  his  father  the  other  day  as  he  was  waiting  for  the  after-dinner  des- 
sert, "  Papa,  do  you  know  what  custard  pie  is  ?  "  "  What  is  it  ?  "  asked  his 
father.  "  Why,"  replied  Robert,  with  a  bright  twinkle  in  his  eye,  "  it  is  all 
swallow  and  no  chew."  A  pretty  good  definition,  I  should  say,  of  some  of  the 
old-time  religion,  which  came  very  near  turning  our  churches  into  intellectual 
restaurants  for  feeding  lazy  Christians  with  soft  custards.  Against  this  whole 
idea  of  an  easy-going  faith  the  Endeavor  movement  has  set  itself  from  the 
beginning. 

And,  under  God,  it  has  been  wonderfully  blessed  in  raising  up  a  vast  host  of 
active  workers. 

The  best  worker  of  to-day  is  the  young  man  or  woman  who  came  ten  or 
fifteen  years  ago  as  a  boy  or  girl  into  the  Endeavor  ranks.  The  workers  of  the 
next  generation  will  be  the  Endeavor  boys  and  girls  of  this.  So  long  as 
Endeavor  shall  hold  the  boys  and  girls  God  will  use  it  to  bring  on  his 
millennium. 

The  next  speaker's  topic  was  "  Every  Talent  for  Christ." 

Address  of  Rev.  John  Neil,  Toronto,  Ont. 

The  central  thought  in  this  address  is  that  God  will  accept  and  use  every 
power  we  possess  if  we  consecrate  all  to  his  service,  and  that  the  Christian  has 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  all  his  talents  in  the  service  of  God.  This  has  been 
denied.  There  are  those  who  have  said  that  Christianity  narrows  a  man  ;  that 
it  has  impoverished  art  and  is  inimical  to  true  culture.  Such  is  not  the  case. 
Culture  has  been  defined  as  having  a  high  ideal  and  training  heart  and  brain 
and  hand  and  eye  to  reach  that  ideal.     Now  Christianity  sets  before  us  the  high- 


166  Official  Report  of  the 

est  ideal,  and  it  trains  heart  and  brain  and  hand  and  eye  to  attain  to  that  ideal. 
John  Stuart  Blackie  has  truly  said  that  man's  chief  end  is  to  develop  every 
power  of  mind  and  body  and  soul  to  the  fullest  extent.  If  he  does  that  he 
will  glorify  God  and  enjoy  him  forever. 

Christ  invites  us  to  come  to  him  with  all  we  have,  and  the  two  talents  will  be 
made  four,  and  the  five,  ten.  In  endeavoring  to  prove  this,  let  us  first  consider 
that  God  has  given  man  every  power  which  he  possesses  and  has  made  provi- 
sion for  the  exercise  of  all.  When  man  was  created  he  was  endowed  with  all 
the  faculties  he  possesses.  His  love  of  the  beautiful  and  his  power  to  produce 
the  beautiful  all  came  from  God.  In  this  respect  he  was  created  in  the  image 
of  God  himself,  who  loves  the  beautiful  and  has  made  everything  beautiful  in 
its  season.  He  also  commanded  him  to  cultivate  all  the  powers  he  gave  him, 
for  when  he  told  him  he  was  to  cultivate  the  earth  he  did  not  mean  the  external 
world  around  him  merely,  but  his  own  nature  as  well,  with  all  the  powers  it  pos- 
sesses. 

When  he  was  creating  a  world  in  which  man  was  to  dwell  he  did  not 
merely  make  provision  for  man's  necessities,  but  he  also  created  a  world 
filled  with  forms  of  beauty,  and  which  minister  to  every  part  of  our  being.  No 
part  of  our  nature,  no  talent,  is  left  unprovided  for.  The  same  was  true  when 
he  was  providing  a  revelation  for  man.  He  did  not  content  himself  with  declar- 
ing his  will  in  a  few  brief,  comprehensive  statements,  but  he  gave  a  revelation 
which  appealed  to  every  part  of  man's  being.  The  Word  of  God  has  come  to 
us  through  history,  parable,  simile,  poetry  in  all  its  forms,  so  that  every  part  of 
man's  being  is  touched.  His  intellect,  his  emotions,  his  iEsthetic  nature, —  all 
are  used  as  channels  through  which  His  truth  reaches  heart  and  conscience.  If 
God  had  no  place  in  his  kingdom  for  all  man's  varied  talents,  it  is  not  likely 
that  in  all  these  varied  ways  he  would  have  ministered  to  them  all. 

We  find  that  God  has  in  the  founding  and  developing  of  his  Church  used 
all  the  powers  man  possesses. 

When  founding  his  Church  he  did  so.  In  the  construction  of  the  Taber- 
nacle and  the  Temple,  in  which  God  was  to  dwell  in  the  midst  of  his  people, 
the  mechanical  skill  and  genius  not  only  of  Israelites,  but  those  of  other 
nations,  were  placed  under  contribution.  In  making  provision  for  the  Temple 
service,  the  greatest  poets  and  the  sweetest  musicians  were  employed  by  God. 
In  the  revelation  which  he  was  giving  to  man,  he  placed  under  contribution  the 
learning  and  the  genius  and  all  the  varied  talents  of  men  who  had  given  them- 
selves to  him,  —  the  learning  of  Moses,  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  poetical 
genius  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel.  When  that  revelation  was  to  be  com- 
pleted, when  Christ  came,  we  find  him  training  his  disciples  and  using  their 
individuality  and  their  varied  experiences  in  the  declaration  of  his  truth, —  the 
learning  of  Luke  and  Paul,  the  methodical  training  of  Matthew  ;  also  the  san- 
guine temperament  of  Peter,  making  him  the  apostle  of  hope;  the  fervent 
nature  of  John,  making  him  the  apostle  of  love ;  and  the  ethical  instincts  of 
James,  making  him  the  apostle  of  the  ethical  side  of  Christianity ;  so  that  all  the 
varied  gifts  and  talents  and  experiences  of  those  men  were  utilized  by  God  in 
the  founding  of  his  Church.  The  same  was  true  when  he  was  bringing  his  Church 
back  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  She  had  become  corrupt,  and  a  false  phil- 
osophy had  concealed  or  distorted  the  truth.  When  the  time  came  to  bring 
men  back  to  the  light  we  find  all  men's  varied  talents  employed.  What  varied 
gifts  were  exercised  in  the  Reformation  !  Luther  was  not  only  a  great  preacher, 
but  he  was  a  sweet  singer,  and  he  produced  the  battle-songs  of  the  Reformation. 
Holbein  was  a  great  artist,  and  from  the  canvas  he  taught  the  same  truths 
which  were  preached  and  sung  by  Luther.  Calvin  was  the  greatest  logician  of 
his  age;  Erasmus,  the  greatest  scholar.  All  were  used;  not  a  talent  was 
rejected. 

The  same  was  true  when  God's  Church  was  to  be  revived.  We  find  God 
laying  his  hand  on  men  of  varied  talents.  Whitfield,  the  marvelous  orator,  who 
could  for  hours  hold  thousands  spellbound  :  John  Wesley,  not  only  a  great 
preacher,  but  the  great  organizer;  Charles  Wesley,  the  poet,  who  wrote  some 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  167 

of  the  sweetest  hymns  which  have  enriched  our  books  of  praise;  —  all  these 
were  used. 

We  find  the  same  is  true  now,  when  we  are  disseminating  the  truth.  This  is 
the  age  of  missions.  It  seems  as  if  each  age  of  the  Church  had  its  own  special 
work  to  do, —  at  one  time  to  defend  the  truth,  at  another  to  disseminate  the 
truth.  This  is  the  age  of  missions.  The  Church  has  her  ears  open  to  hear 
the  command  of  her  Lord  :  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature."  And  now  as  never  before  since  the  first  centuries  she  is 
seeking  to  obey  that  command.  And  what  do  we  find.^"  God  is  using  and 
blessing  every  invention,  every  advance  in  science  and  art  in  this  great  work. 
Men  and  women  find  that  every  talent  they  possess  can  be  used  in  telling  the 
story  of  Christ's  love  to  a  lost  world.  Medical  missions  are  opening  doors  for 
the  entrance  of  the  Gospel.  Scientific  knowledge  in  other  places  is  being  em- 
ployed. The  Gospel  sung  is  reaching  hearts  which  were  closed  against  the 
Gospel  preached;  and  we  find  that  God  is  caUing  on  all  and  using  every  power 
he  has  given  to  man  in  furthering  this  great  work,  so  that  all  through  the  past 
and  in  the  present,  in  the  founding  and  developing  of  his  Church,  God  has, 
and  is  recognizing,  all  man's  work  or  gifts. 

We  find  also  that  when  men  consecrate  their  powers  to  God's  service 
they  are  developed  in  a  way  they  would  not  otherwise  be.  Moses  was  a 
learned  man  and  possessed  great  natural  talent,  but  would  he  ever  have  pos- 
sessed the  power  he  did  had  he  consented  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter  and  refused  the  call  of  God.-*  The  disciples  of  our  Lord  would 
never  intellectually  have  been  the  men  they  became  had  they  not  yielded  them- 
selves to  him.  Bunyan  had  a  vivid  imagination  and  possessed  native  humor, 
but  he  would  never  intellectually  have  been  able  to  write  the  "  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress" had  he  not  dedicated  these  gifts  to  God. 

And  so  it  has  ever  been.  If  we  have  any  talent,  we  find  that  talent  is 
increased  and  developed  by  giving  it  to  God.  We  yield  it  to  him;  he  gives  it 
back  enriched.  It  is  reasonable  that  such  should  be  the  case.  The  story  is 
told  of  a  great  musician  who  was  also  a  mechanical  genius.  He  was  not  satis- 
fied with  any  of  the  musical  instruments  at  his  disposal,  and  constructed  an 
organ  for  himself.  Others  could  produce  sweet  music  on  that  organ,  but  no 
one  could  call  forth  its  powers  as  he  who  had  made  it.  So  with  us:  God  has 
made  us;  every  power  we  possess  has  come  from  him,  and  it  is  only  when  we 
yield  our  lives  to  him  and  allow  him  to  use  us  that  the  full  music  of  which  our 
lives  are  capable  is  evoked.  Now  when  we  consider  all  this,  when  we  think 
that  God  has  created  all  the  powers  we  possess;  that  in  the  world  he  has 
created  and  in  the  revelation  he  has  given,  he  has  made  provision  for  them  all; 
when  we  think  that  in  the  founding  and  development  of  his  Church  he  has 
used  all  the  varied  talents  men  possess,  and  when  we  consider  that  it  is  only 
when  men  have  yielded  themselves  fully  to  him  that  they  have  produced  all  of 
which  they  are  capable,  can  we  have  any  doubt  that  God  will  accept  and  will 
use  all  we  bring  to  him .''  Do  not  fear  that  if  you  become  a  Christian  it 
will  narrow  you.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  enrich  your  life  and  give  it  a  beauty 
it  does  not  now  possess.  Do  not  let  us  be  satisfied  with  merely  coming  to  Christ 
that  our  sins  may  be  pardoned,  but  let  us  bring  every  gift  to  him  and  use  all 
for  him.  If  there  is  any  one  here  who  is  not  a  Christian,  I  would  say.  Why 
remain  away  from  Christ  1  You  may  have  much  in  your  life  that  is  sweet  and 
beautiful,  but  you  are  like  the  wayside  flower ;  it  is  beautiful  and  fragrant,  but 
it  is  exposed  to  the  chilling  winds  and  is  in  danger  of  being  trodden  down  by 
the  feet  of  those  who  are  passing  by.  Let  that  flower  be  transplanted  by  the 
gardner  and  he  will  watch  over  it,  shelter  it  from  the  storm,  and  it  will  put  on  a 
richer  beauty  and  have  a  sweeter  fragrance.  So  with  you.  Come  to  Christ 
with  all  you  possess  and  he  will  not  only  guard  and  defend  your  life,  but  he  will 
beautify  and  enrich  it,  and  it  will  go  on  developing  through  the  ages  of  eternity. 

After  the  singing  of  a  hymn  by  the  chorus.  Rev.  Cortland  Myers,  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  introduced  to  speak  upon  the  subject,  "  The 
King's  Business." 


168  Official  Report  of  the 

Address  of  Rev.  Cortland  Myers,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

There  were  twelve  millions  of  men  who  laid  down  their  lives  to  satisfy  the 
ambitions  of  a  Cssar.  There  were  four  millions  of  men  who  laid  down  their 
lives  in  the  war-path  cut  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  through  Europe,  and  whose 
bones  lay  bleaching  upon  the  shore  of  a  foreign  world.  There  have  been  millions 
throughout  the  history  of  the  world  who  have  simply  followed  obediently  the 
standards  of  an  earthly  king.  There  are  in  the  world  to-day  millions  of  men  who 
would  rise  at  the  first  sound  of  the  word  "  Go  "  from  the  king's  or  the  queen's 
lips.  The  Czar  of  Russia  commands  his  thousands,  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
his  thousands,  and  the  Queen  of  England  her  thousands.  They  are  ready  at 
the  first  instant  to  move  to  any  part  of  the  world  at  the  command  of  their 
sovereign. 

If  those  who  obtain  only  a  small  part  of  this  world  to  call  their  kingdom,  and 
a  single  house  or  two  which  they  call  their  palace,  have  such  implicit  obedience 
as  history  testifies  to,  what  shall  we  say  this  morning  as  to  our  relation  to  our 
King,  —  the  King  of  kings  and  the  Lord  of  lords.  Not  only  a  small  part  of 
this  world  is  his,  but  the  whole  planet.  All  the  flowers  and  all  the  conserva- 
tories and  fields  of  the  world  are  in  his  conservatory  in  one  palace.  All  the 
grass  and  all  the  meadows  of  the  world  comprise  his  lawns.  All  the  mountain- 
sides with  their  trees  and  their  verdure  comprise  his  parks.  The  oceans  them- 
selves are  the  baths,  and  the  rivers  and  lakes  are  the  fountains  for  that  palace. 
All  the  sunrises  of  the  morning  and  sunsets  of  the  evening  are  the  pictures  upon 
that  palace  wall.  All  the  stars  in  the  heaven  are  his  thousands  of  candle 
chandeliers. 

If  that  is  the  contrast  between  your  King  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  what 
ought  to  be  your  duty  this  morning  to  that  sceptre  that  swings  above  the  head 
of  every  Christian  man  and  Christian  woman  ?  Just  one  attitude  of  implicit 
and  immediate  obedience.  We  have  a  theology  of  justice  emphasized  and  a 
theology  of  love  exercised,  a  new  theology  and  an  old  theology ;  but  I  declare 
this  morning  that  it  seems  to  me  about  time  in  the  kingdom  of  God  that  we 
had  a  theology  of  obedience. 

The  last  word  of  your  Divine  King  was  one  monosyllabic  word,  but  a  word 
stupendous  in  its  size,  after  all, — that  one  single  round  "  o  "  encircling  the  world 
and  the  crooked  "g"  the  chain  which  binds  that  world  fast  to  the  throne  of  God. 
"Go,  go,"  was  your  Master's  command,  and  not  stop  until  the  last  square  foot 
upon  the  planet  had  been  touched  by  a  drop  of  blood  from  his  veins.  That 
command  covers  preacher  and  hearer.  It  covers  every  man  and  woman  and 
child  beneath  the  sceptre  of  the  Son  of  God. 

In  the  world's  bright  field  of  battle,  alas !  it  is  too  often  true  in  the  bivouac 
of  life  you  will  find  the  Christian  soul  represented  by  his  wife.  And  the  men 
of  this  kingdom  of  our  Lord  have  not  yet  learned  the  lesson  which  I  speak  this 
morning  as  well  as  the  women  have  learned  it.  They  have  not  learned  it  in  the 
home  field  and  they  have  not  learned  it  in  the  foreign  field, —  the  implicit  obe- 
dience demanded  of  them  by  their  King. 

We  must  follow  implicitly  the  standard  of  the  Christ,  no  matter  where  it  takes 
us,  in  any  part  of  this  home-land  or  the  foreign  land,  before  this  planet  shall  be 
ever  given  to  its  rightful  owner.  We  must  learn  more  deeply  than  we  have  ever 
learned  it  yet,  the  necessity,  the  demand,  that  runs  through  the  entire  kingdom 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  be  obedient  to  our  King.  If  we  had  one-tenth  part 
of  the  obedience  which  is  given  to  the  kings  of  this  world  in  their  kingdoms 
how  long  do  you  think  it  would  be  before  this  world  would  be  given  to  Christ 
entirely,  bound  with  golden  chains  to  the  feet  of  God.?  How  long,  think  you? 
Before  the  close  of  this  nineteenth  century,  and  you  would  not  need  to  plan  a 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention  in  England.  Wherever  you  would  go  you 
would  find  your  Convention  before  the  throne  of  God. 

If  we  would  simply  move  up  to  the  standard  of  Christ  in  obedience  to  our 
Master's  voice,  ah,  quickly,  quickly,  would  the  world  be  given  to  him.  Tenny- 
son, in  his  "  Light  Brigade  "  says:— 

"  Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 
Theirs  but  to  do  and  die. 


FiftecntJi.  Intcmational  Convcntio7i.  169 

Into  the  valley  of  death 
Rode  the  six  hundred. 
Cannon  to  right  of  them, 
Cannon  to  left  of  them. 
Cannon  in  front  of  them, 
Vollied  and  thundered. 
Into  the  jaws  of  death. 
Into  the  mouth  of  hell. 
Rode  the  six  hundred." 

If  that  was  our  attitude  towards  the  commands  of  our  Divine  Master, — never 
to  reason  why,  but  to  do  and  die, — what  mighty  progress  there  would  be  in  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord  upon  earth  ! 

What  is  our  message,  and  wliat  is  our  business  as  Christian  men  and  women  ? 
We  are  here  in  this  Christian  Endeavor  Convention,  and  we  say  our  mission 
upon  earth  is  to  fulfil  the  mission  of  Jesus  Christ  and  to  save  men;  but  next 
week  we  will  be  back  in  our  business  places  and  our  homes,  and  our  business, 
if  we  are  truthful,  is  not  that ;  it  is  more  often  to  get  more  of  this  world's  goods 
in  our  hands,  or  to  climb  to  a  higher  summit ;  or  some  other  object  than  the  one 
supreme  object.  We  are  hearing  a  great  deal  to-day  about  gold  and  silver. 
One  part  of  this  land  is  falling  down  before  a  golden  calf,  and  another  part  of 
this  land  is  falling  down  before  a  silver  calf,  and  nearly  the  whole  land  is  waltzing 
and  dancing  around  those  two  calves  in  its  excitement  and  its  insanity.  Almighty 
God  is  sending  the  message  from  his  throne  :  "  What  doth  it  profit  a  man,"  if 
he  owns  all  the  silver-mines  of  a  Bland,  or  a  Boies,  or  a  St.  John,  or  all  the  gold 
of  the  gold-bugs  of  Wall  Street,  if  he  loses  his  immortal  soul.?  What  value  is  it 
if  we  have  all  the  wealth  of  this  world  in  our  hands  if  the  soul  is  lost  1  What 
value  is  it  to  your  fellow  man  if  his  soul  is  lost  ?  The  most  valuable  thing  upon 
earth  and  in  heaven  is  the  soul  of  man.  It  is  your  business  and  mine  to  save 
that  soul  through  the  grace  of  God.  We  have  been  hearing  much  recently,  and 
rightly  so,  about  Armenia  and  the  persecutions  of  the  Turk.  I  have  had  my 
own  blood  boil,  and  I  am  prepared  this  morning  to  pause  right  here  and  pray 
to  God  Almighty  to  send  our  white  squadron  yet  up  the  Dardanelles  and  shatter 
that  old  Turkish  throne  into  atoms  and  send  the  pig-headed  monarch  where  he 
belongs.  I  have  prayed  it.  I  prayed  it  before  three  thousand  people  and  have 
been  preaching  it  to  them  almost  every  Sunday  for  the  last  month.  I  am  pre- 
pared to  pray  that  that  old  Turkish  rug,  crimsoned  with  blood-stains,  shall  be 
rolled  up  off  this  world's  floor  and  be  given  to  the  rag-pickers  of  perdition,  or 
hung  out  upon  the  lines  of  the  world,  and  the  winds  of  justice  be  made  to  sweep 
through  it,  and  the  moths  to  be  taken  out  of  it. 

There  is  more  for  Christian  people  and  more  for  the  kingdom  of  God  to 
work  for  upon  earth  even  than  that.  It  is  the  sublimest  of  all  occupations,  and 
that  which  is  coveted  by  the  angels,  next  to  the  throne  of  God,  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost.  And  it  shall  be  done.  This  magnificent  mission 
shall  be  accomplished  only  by  the  divine  method.  It  can  not  be  done  by  any 
amount  of  machinery.  It  can  not  be  done  by  any  process  of  war.  It  can  not  be 
done  by  any  other  means  than  the  Peter  method,  and  the  Andrew  method,  and 
the  Nathaniel  method,  and  the  Philip  method,  and  the  Christ  method.  It  must 
be  done  by  soul  touching  soul  and  imparting  the  divine  love. 

Christianity  is  love.  There  has  been  too  much  emphasis  laid  in  these  latter 
days  in  the  Church  of  Christ  upon  education  and  upon  benevolence  and  upon 
other  things  which  are  to  help  and  elevate  human  kind.  We  have  been  placing 
too  much  emphasis  upon  brain  in  the  pulpit;  even  Christianity  is  not  primarily 
that.  It  is  love.  It  is  not  intellect.  It  is  passion.  It  is  not  an  idea,  not  a 
philosophy,  not  a  science,  not  anything  else  than  a  passion  for  the  souls  of  men. 
Why.?  Because  Christianity  was  born  in  love.  It  had  its  inception  in  the 
heart  of  God.  It  was  love  which  produced  a  Gethsemane  and  a  Calvary  and  a 
Sepulchre  to  save  human  kind  ;  and  it  is  precisely  that  element  which  must  go 
out  from  your  heart  in  order  to  acomplish  this  sublime  mission  of  which  I  speak 
to  you  to-day, —  the  King's  business  upon  earth. 

We  are  so  afraid  of  a  little  enthusiasm  and  a  little  sweat  and  a  little  of  any- 
thing except  formality  and  coldness  !  My  heart  is  just  bleeding  and  aching 
when  I  recall  this  morning  that  down  in  the  battle-field  from  which  I  come  a  million 


170  Official  Report  of  the 

people  in  my  city  never  crossed  the  threshold  of  a  Christian  church  on  the 
Sabbath  Day;  and  more  than  a  million  over  across  the  river  in  New  York  live 
in  the  same  depths  of  heathenism.  The  churches  of  our  Divine  Master  almost 
without  exception  are  empty.  I  know  only  one  church  in  the  whole  City  of 
Churches  that  h&s  to  turn  people  away  from  its  doors.  I  believe  this  morning 
it  is  not  due  to  the  sin  which  is  binding  this  world  as  much  as  it  is  due  to  the 
coldness  which  is  shackling  our  Christian  hearts. 

I  have  declared  to  you  this  morning  that  the  immortal  souls  of  men  amount 
to  infinitely  more  than  that.  This  kingdom  of  our  Master  will  never  be  laid  at 
his  feet  until  we  realize  that  our  mission  is  the  highest  mission  upon  earth,  and 
it  shall  be  accomplished  by  only  one  method.  You  can  have  all  the  machinery 
you  wish  and  you  can  have  all  the  equipments  you  wish,  but  it  seems  to  me  it 
is  a  sad,  pitiable  thing  to  hear,  pathetic  to  hear,  for  any  church  of  Christ  to 
say,  "  We  are  in  a  poor  location;  we  can't  be  anything  where  we  are."  The 
church  at  Pergamos  was  in  a  poor  location.  The  church  of  Ephesus  was  in  a 
poor  location,  and  all  the  rest  of  them  were  in  a  poor  location.  They  say, 
"  Because  we  are  down-town,  we  can't  do  anything."  "  You  can't  do  anything  in 
down-town  New  York."  "  You  can't  do  anything  in  down-town  Brooklyn."  I 
know  one  poor,  weak  specimen  —  the  whole  church,  the  board  of  deacons, 
trustees,  and  everything — who  said,  "You  can't  do  a  thing.  The  greatest 
preachers  in  the  land  have  preached  in  this  beautiful  church  for  years,  and  they 
have  preached  to  as  many  as  seven  people  on  Sunday  night.  You  can't  do 
anything  down  here," — and  that  was  in  the  centre  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
people.     They  were  not  able  to  do  a  thing  to  save  any  one. 

If  the  Church  of  our  Master  will  rise  right  up  to  its  level,  to  its  possibility  of 
divine  enthusiasm  to  save  the  souls  of  men,  you  can  fill  any  building  on  earth 
and  you  can  save  anybody  on  earth. 

Oh,  what  splendid  opportunities  are  given  to  those  in  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Societies  to-day,  and  in  every  part  of  this  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  to  save  men ! 
There  never  were  opportunities  like  those,  in  every  part  of  our  world,  that  there 
are  in  this  day, — opportunities  in  the  literary  world,  opportunities  in  the  scien- 
tific world,  opportunities  in  the  commercial  world,  opportunities  in  the  profes- 
sional world,  opportunities  in  the  inventive  world,  opportunities  everywhere. 
We  think  we  have  done  wonders  in  these  last  days,  and  we  have;  but  I  believe 
in  the  next  twenty-five  years  we  are  going  to  see  more  wonderful  things  by  far 
than  were  ever  seen  in  these  last  twenty-five  years.  You  will  simply  laugh 
about  some  of  the  electrical  apparatus  and  steam  apparatus  and  apparatus  of 
other  kinds  and  machinery  of  these  latter  days.  I  should  not  be  surprised  if 
we  were  to  make  a  journey  to  the  moon  within  the  next  twenty-five  years.  I  do 
not  know  about  it.  I  have  n't  bought  my  ticket  for  it  yet.  I  do  not  know  that 
I  would  go  in  the  first  train;  but  it  will  not  be  surprising  if  we  do  go.  There 
are  growing  up  in  these  days  more  opportunities  for  young  men  and  women  to 
make  a  magnificent  success  in  every  department  of  life.  Don't  you  believe  it 
when  they  tell  you  you  are  being  crowded  out.  There  is  plenty  of  room  at  the 
top,  and  there  will  be  more.  Don't  put  any  confidence  in  that  expression  at  all. 
There  are  opportunities  in  the  moral  world,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  to  elevate 
human  society.  You  were  pleaded  with  last  night,  some  of  you.  I  suppose,  to 
make  better  citizens,  better  government,  for  a  purified  political  life;  and  it  was 
declared  that  that  was  the  arena  of  most  splendid  success  for  young  men  and 
women  in  these  days. 

I  care  not  this  morning  whether  you  heard  that  or  not.  I  do  declare  that  it 
is  not  true.  The  best,  grandest,  greatest  arena  for  the  success  of  young  men 
and  young  women  to-day  is  to  be  soul-savers.  You  could  purify  the  politics  of 
hell,  perhaps,  and  yet  that  would  not  be  the  saving  of  the  lost.  The  most  im- 
portant work  on  earth,  I  have  said,  is  to  save  men.  The  most  magnificent 
work  given  to  human  kind  is  to  save  your  fellow  men. 

Our  churches  to-day  are  not  realizing  just  this  message  of  this  morning,  to 
my  mind,  to  one  single  part  of  the  degree  that  it  has  been  realized  in  the  days 
past.    With  all  the  splendid  equipments  we  have,  with  every  emolument  to 


Fifteenth  International  Co7ive7ition.  171 

advance  the  interests  of  our  kingdom,  with  every  possibility  ahead  of  us,  we 
ought  to  accomplish  ten  thousand  times  more  than  we  do. 

Ought  we  to  be  satisfied  with  just  a  few  conversions  in  our  society  a  year, 
just  a  few  in  our  churches  a  year,  simply  to  keep  up  the  record  i  .  No,  we 
ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  a  Pentecost.  If  they  had_a 
Pentecost,  with  the  men  they  had  it  with,  with  the  money  they  had  it  with,  in 
the  environment  they  had  it  with,  what  ought  we  to  have  to-day?  They  had 
three  thousand  saved  in  one  city  in  a  day.  Forty  thousand  would  not  be  a 
comparison  with  a  Pentecost;  and  the  same  Spirit  of  God  moves  and  reigns 
upon  earth,  and  the  same  Spirit  is  given  to  his  Church  upon  earth. 

What  does  it  require.''  It  requires  simply  a  consecrated  heart,  not  brains. 
Not  that  does  God  always  use.  Not  ability  along  indefinite  lines,  perhaps 
Not  that  does  God  always  use.  Our  Heavenly  Father  has  seen  fit  to  use  our. 
poor  efforts.  What  would  some  of  us  do  this  morning  if  his  mercy  had  not 
left  it  that  way  ?  He  uses  the  weakest  instruments  upon  earth,  if  they  are  only 
consecrated  to  his  service,  to  save  the  souls  of  our  fellow  men. 

There  are  pulpits  to-day  which  are  being  used  as  the  instruments  of  blas- 
phemy,—  a  morocco  case,  the  leaves  unrolled,  the  struggle  is  simply  this:  to 
bring  all  of  Webster's  dictionary  into  a  single  man's  vocabulary,  and  to  place 
it  in  grammatical,  rhetorical  sentences.  I  have  known  a  man  to  spend  an 
entire  week  doing  the  same  thing  that  they  do  in  order  to  learn  to  ride  a 
bicycle, —  spending  an  entire  week  constructing  a  grammatical  sentence  and 
riding  it  down  the  asphalt  pavement  of  some  rich  church.  I  would  rather 
utter  every  sentence  ungrammatically,  have  only  twelve  words  in  my  vocabulary, 
if  those  words  could  come  from  a  burning  heart,  all  aglow  with  fire.  Twelve 
words  would  be  enough, —  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from 
all  sins." 

I  don't  care  whether  I  can  express  myself  very  well  or  not.  That  does  not 
amount  to  much  as  long  as  the  purpose  is  plain  and  the  destination  is  reached. 
I  stand  at  the  foot  of  my  Master's  throne  and  he  places  the  crown  of  royalty 
on  my  poor  brow -and  the  sacred  lips  give  the  message  :  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  He  will  touch  my  lips 
and  make  me  never  to  stutter  again.  As  sure  as  his  throne  stands,  that  will 
inevitably  be  the  result.  It  was  that  same  determination  that  sent  Henry 
Martyn  to  Arabia,  Carey  to  India,  Morrison  to  China,  Atchison  to  Africa,  Pat- 
terson to  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  and  every  man  and  woman  into  every  part  of 
God's  kingdom,  which  has  shaken  this  world  and  brought  us  nearer  to  his 
throne.  When  this  is  done,  oh,  what  a  glorious  morning  will  pleasantly  dawn  !  I 
am  waiting  for  it.  There  is  not  a  pessimistic  drop  of  blood  in  my  veins  —  not 
one,  because  I  believe  in  God  the  Father,  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Son,  my  King,  in 
the  Holy  Ghost,  my  helper;  and  this  world  is  bound  to  be  his. 

I  am  pleading  with  you  simply  to  have  a  share  in  it,  not  because  it  will  not 
be  done.  It  will  be  done  ;  but  you  will  be  sorry  some  day  that  you  did  not  use 
everyone  of  those  talents  to  the  saving  of  your  fellow  men.  I  am  pleading  with 
you  for  that  purpose,  because  it  is  bound  to  come  ;  but  with  this  great  army  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  the  millions  of  the  Church  of  our  Master,  I  can  hear 
the  tread  of  the  oncoming  host  this  morning,  and  the  battle  is  soon  to  be  won. 

The  next  exercise  was  unrolling  the  missionary  roll  of  honor. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Weddell,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

In  imagination  you  have  before  you  the  roll  which  records  8,200  societies  of 
Christian  Endeavor  who  have  given  within  the  last  year  to  missions,  ^150,000 
and  more.  Besides  this,  $200,000  and  more  have  been  given  to  other  benevo- 
lences, making  a  round  sum  of  $360,000  given  by  the  Christian  Endeavor 
Societies  of  the  country  to  general  missions  and  benevolence,—  a  noble  record 
indeed. 

Of  this  company,  the  Clarendon  Street  Baptist  Church  has  a  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  that  has  given  $1,107  and  has  the  honor  of  being  first.  The 
Calvary  Presbyterian  Society  of  Buffalo  gives  $1,000,  and  stands  second.     I 


172  Official  Report  of  the 

am  very  glad,  dear  friends,  that  we  have  such  a  record  as  this,  and  that  we  have 
the  promise  of  good  things  to  come  in  the  year  which  is  before  us.  The  only 
feet  that  are  called  beautiful  in  the  Bible  are  the  feet  that  are  moving.  "  How 
beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings, 
that  publisheth  peace." 

I  thought,  as  they  were  singing  here  to-day,  of  the  watchmen  that  shall  lift 
up  their  voices  together  when  He  shall  bring  again  Zion  ;  how  he  is  bringing 
Zion  by  means  of  his  ransomed  host.  So  when  we  are  doing  a  mission  work, 
giving  to  Christian  missions,  we  are  living  the  most  beautiful  and  most  grace- 
ful Christian  life.  I  believe  also  that  we  are  strongest  in  our  Christian  life 
when  we  are  giving  in  this  Christian  fashion.  There  is  a  text  of  Scripture  that 
says,  "If  the  salt  hath  lost  its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?  "  The  salt  of 
this  whole  world  is  the  Church,  and  the  salt  of  the  Church  is  missions.  If 
the  Church  shall  lose  its  missionary  interest,  its  enthusiasm  for  missions,  it  is 
like  the  salt  that  has  lost  its  saltness,  to  be  trodden  under  the  foot  of  man ;  and 
it  is  so  trodden  wherever  churches  of  Jesus  Christ  lose  the  missionary  spirit. 
Thestrengthof  our  Christian  living  is  in  our  Christian  giving,  as  the  beauty  of 
our  Christian  living  is  in  our  Christian  giving. 

The  word  that  our  brother  accented  was  "go.''  Some  one  has  put  along 
with  it  another  word,  "  lo."  I  should  say  the  two  balance  each  other.  In 
God's  Word,  at  the  last  of  Matthew,  it  is  :  "  Go  ye  "  and  "  lo,  I  am  with  you." 
God  himself  comes  into  the  midst  of  the  people.  We  go  in  answer  to  his  cry, 
following  out  the  Master's  direction;  and  as  we  go  he  is  with  us  and  we  enjoy 
his  presence. 

As  we  take  the  roll  of  the  missionary  agents  of  this  Society  we  are  laying  hold 
upon  the  world  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  can  say,  "  Gideon  is  mine."  When  you 
and  I  go  forth  under  the  Master's  direction  and  pattern  we  have  entered  upon 
the  conquest  of  the  whole  world,  and  the  strength  and  might  is  with  us. 

There  in  my  old  city  of  Chicago  a  colored  man  stood  up  one  day,  and  when 
questioned  as  to  how  he  was  getting  along  in  the  Christian  career,  he  said, 
"  I  am  having  a  good  time.  Oh,"  said  he,  "  I  am  having  so  good  a  time  as  I  go 
along  as  a  Christian  that  when  I  goes  up  to  the  gates  of  heaven,  if  they  shuts 
me  out,  I  will  say,  'Anyhow,  I  had  a  good  time  getting  here.'" 

Fellow  Christian  Endeavorers,  we  are  having  a  good  time  on  the  way,  and  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  for  as  Jacob  went  on  his  way  the  angels  of  God  met 
him.  He  was  going  on  God's  way,  and  how  could  it  be  otherwise  than  that  he 
should  meet  God's  messengers  ?  Christian  Endeavorers,  go  God's  way  as 
Christ  set  the  fashion,—"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.     Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Tent  Washington. 

By  nine  o'clock  there  were  about  fifteen  hundred  people  in  Tent  Wash- 
ington, and  the  stream  of  incomers  was  steadily  growing  larger.  Those 
who  had  come  early  sat  quietly  and  without  displaying  any  of  those 
signs  of  great  enthusiasm  that  marked  Thursday  morning,  until  at  about 
ten  minutes  after  nine  the  Tennessee  delegates,  sitting  near  the  front, 
began  to  sing  the  "  Nashville,  '98  "  song,  a  medley  of  "  Dixie  "  and 
"  Yankee  Doodle."  It  breathed  a  good  spirit  of  welcome  and  broke 
the  damp  silence  and  served  to  warm  up  the  delegates.  There  was  a 
hearty  round  of  hand-clapping,  and  the  Southerners  began  their  other 
song,  "  Tennessee,"  to  the  tune  of  "  America."  When  there  was  quiet 
again  some  man  in  the  crowd,  inspired  by  a  thought  of  the  moisture  of 
the  past  few  days,  called  out,  "  How  's  the  weather  down  there  ?"  An 
enthusiastic  Nashville  delegate  shouted  back,  "  It 's  dryer  than  it  is 
here." 


Fifteenth  International  Conventioti.  173 

Then  ensued  a  remarkable  rivalry.  The  Philadelphians,  sitting  in 
the  north  end  of  the  tent,  opened  up  with  their  song  of  invitation  and 
welcome,  "Come  to  Philadelphia  in  1898,"  sung  to  the  tune  of  "John 
Brown's  Body."  It  was  bright  and  catchy,  and  soon  many  others 
than  the  Quaker  city  folks  were  sounding  forth  the  strains  of  the 
famous  old  march.  They  put  it  through  all  the  verses  about  four  times, 
and  then  the  Nashville  people,  growing  a  bit  jealous  of  the  attention 
the  Endeavorers  from  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  were  attracting,  started 
up  their  medley  again  without  waiting  for  their  rivals  to  cease.  The 
two  songs  did  not  harmonize  very  well,  but  that  mattered  not,  for 
there  was  a  touch  of  friendly  rivalry  in  the  effort,  and  the  delegates 
who  were  not  rivals  for  the  convention  two  years  hence  enjoyed  the 
efforts  of  the  two  delegations  keenly.  For  a  few  moments  there  was  a 
running  fire  of  mingled  cadences  and  chords,  and  then  a  crowd  of  folks 
in  another  part  of  the  tent  started  up  a  hymn  that  smothered  out  the 
other  songs.  Finally  there  came  other  aspirants  for  convention  honors, 
—  the  Endeavor  crowd  from  Louisville, —  and  their  song  was  prob- 
ably the  prettiest  of  all,  the  refrain  of  "Louisville  in  1898"  fitting  in 
very  nicely  with  the  rhythm  of  "  The  Red,  White,  and  Blue." 

It  was  half-past  nine  o'clock;  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Fallows,  D.D.,  of 
Chicago,  stepped  forward  on  the  rostrum  and  called  for  order.  He 
then  asked  Mr.  Excell,  of  Chicago,  to  lead  in  the  song  service.  Mr. 
Excell  took  the  platform  and  called  for  "  All  Hail  the  Power  of  Jesus' 
Name."  There  were  about  six  thousand  voices  in  the  great  choir  that 
swelled  out  the  notes  of  the  grand  old  hymn  to  defy  the  pouring  rain 
that  was  falling  by  gallons  on  the  canvas  walls. 

Rev.  N.  C.  Naylor,  of  Washington,  conducted  the  devotional  exercises. 

The  first  speaker  was  Miss  Haus,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  whose  topic  was 
"The  Junior  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor." 

Address  of  Miss  Kate  H.  Haus,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  membership  of  the  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Society  should  consist  of 
children  of  all  ages,  up  to  twelve  and  fourteen  years  —  babies  in  arms,  if  they 
can  be  brought;  anyway,  have  a  baby  roll  attached  to  your  Junior  list;  you 
can  pray  for  them  and  their  parents,  and  by  so  doing  keep  the  brothers,  sisters, 
and  members  interested  in  the  younger  ones,  and  often  win  indifferent  parents 
to  a  lively  co-operation  and  sympathy  in  the  Junior  work.  The  babies  can  not 
become  acquainted  too  early  with  what  ought  to  be  their  future  home. 

In  this  primary  department  of  Christian  Endeavor  and  Church  work  is  taught 
the  spiritual  alphabet  and  the  simple  fundamental  principles  of  Christian 
mathematics. 

Here  they  get  not  only  the  key-notes  that  unlock  all  Bible  teachings  in  words, 
but  they  get  the  heavenly  geometrical  truth,  which,  if  followed,  helps  solve  all 
problems  of  life  ;  namely,  that  a  straight,  pure  life  is  the  shortest  distance  be- 
tween earth  and  heaven. 

No  church  or  mission  field  is  complete  without  this  class  for  Christian  train- 
ing, any  more  than  a  district  or  grammar  school  would  be  complete  without  its 
primary  department. 

The  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  is  not  to  take  the  place  of  the  home  training 
of  the  parents,  or  of  the  Sabbath  school  or  Church,  but  to  supplement,  empha- 
size, enlarge,  and  help  make  complete  the  spiritual  life  and  training  of  Christ's 
little  ones. 


174  Official  Report  of  the 

We  have  had  commentaries,  lesson  helps,  papers,  religious  magazines,  and 
what-not,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible.  The  Juniors  should  be  taught  to  know 
their  Bible  as  their  main  object^  not  the  poll-parrot  repetition  of  verses,  with- 
out thought,  but  an  intelligent,  prayerful  study  of  the  Bible,  that  will  bear  fruit 
in  purity  of  thought,  word,  and  deed. 

The  outcome  of  such  training  in  mature  life  should  be  a  clean  soul,  a  pure 
heart,  in  a  sound  body,  and  all  under  the  control  and  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

To  have  this  result  means  a  Junior  superintendent  wholly  consecrated  to  the 
work,  continually  active,  and  having  the  help  of  parents,  pastor,  church,  and 
seniors,  through  prayer,  sympathy,  counsel,  and  advice. 

There  must  be  no  summer  vacations  for  Satan  to  pull  down  the  spiritual  life 
faster  than  all  combined  can  rebuild.  Continue  the  meetings  all  summer,  if 
only  one  child  comes. 

Have  the  grit.  Junior  superintendents,  of  the  old  Scotch  woman  who  was 
left  alone  on  the  membership  roll  of  her  church.  When  the  presbytery  came 
to  disband  this  useless  church  of  one  member  (as  they  thought)  they  were  met 
by  her,  and  she  said,  "  Ye  canna  disband  this  church,  for  I  winna  be  dis- 
banded," and  not  gaining  her  consent,  they  were  forced  to  continue  the  faithful 
church  of  one  member  that  became,  through  her  prayers  and  work,  a  powerful 
influence  for  good  in  that  community.  Take  no  vacation  unless  Satan  does  or 
the  Bible  teaches  it. 

Teach  the  Juniors  what  God  says  about  idlers  in  his  vineyard  and  about 
Sabbath-breakers,  and  train  them  to  practise  the  teachings,  and  we  will  need 
no  future  laws  for  Sabbath  observance,  and  there  will  be  no  more  closing  of 
churches  and  Sabbath  schools  in  the  summer. 

How  simple  and  easy  would  it  be  to  train  the  Juniors  to  observe  the  Sabbath 
if  the  Christian  men  and  women  would  help  by  their  example  !  But  the  Sunday 
newspapers  and  elaborate  dinner  are  found  in  the  Christian's  home.  The  ice- 
cream, milk,  baker,  and  butcher  wagons  stop  at  the  Christian's  door  on  the 
Sabbath.  The  mail,  telegraph,  and  telephones  carry  the  messages  of  the  Chris- 
tian on  the  Sabbath.  The  cars  and  bicycles  hold  Christian  riders  on  the  Sab- 
bath, and  the  riders  are  not  always  bound  for  religious  meetings. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath  Day  to  keep  it  holy  "  seems  to  be  a  useless  law, 
broken  into  numberless  pieces,  but.  Christian  Sabbath-breaker,  each  broken 
piece  cries  out  to  God  in  judgment  against  you,  as  did  every  drop  of  Abel's 
blood  shed  by  Cain  cry  out  for  vengeance.  God  is  speaking  to  this  nation  in 
financial  disasters,  tornadoes,  and  judgments  of  various  kinds  to  return  to  the 
sacredness  of  the  Sabbath  Day  and  help  preserve  it  for  the  little  ones  whom 
Jesus  loves. 

Christians,  will  you  help  the  Juniors  in  this  vital  matter  and  help  keep  many 
little  feet  from  straying?  The  Juniors  should  be  taught  to  memorize  chapters 
as  well  as  single  verses  of  the  Bible  ;  taught  whereto  go  for  help  from  tlie  Bible 
—  in  times  of  trouble  and  temptation,  in  joy  or  sorrow,  sickness  or  death,  study, 
work,  or  play. 

Take  up  in  simpler  forms  all  the  various  kinds  of  church  and  committee 
work  that  the  children  can  easily  be  trained  to  perform  well. 

Have  the  regular  officers  and  business  meetings.  Train  them  to  systematic 
giving,  as  well  as  to  every  other  work.  Train  them  to  loyalty  to  their  own 
church  services.  Don't  have  them  mix  their  interdenominational  fellowship 
with  interchurch  fellowship  so  that  they  become  well  acquainted  with  every 
other  church  and  pastor  but  the  one  to  which  they  belong.  Train  them,  so  that 
loyalty  to  their  own  church  stays  by  them  and  is  a  part  of  their  life  as  long  as 
they  live. 

Use  the  simpler  form  of  the  Junior  pledge  and  teach  the  Juniors  it  means 
just  what  it  says,  and  when  once  taken,  is  taken  for  life,  and  though  often 
broken  through  forgetfulness  or  ignorance,  it  should  never  be  wilfully  or 
deliberately  broken. 

Oh  that  we  would  guard  more  carefully  our  lives,  and  live  up  to  the  solemn 


Fifteenth  International  Conve?ition.  175 

obligations  of  even  the  simplest  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  !  How  much  better, 
nobler,  and  more  effective  Christians  we  would  become ! 

The  lack  of  a  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Society  in  any  church  or  mission 
field  shows  a  careless  or  sleepy  condition  of  affairs,  or  something  wanting,  on 
the  part  of  those  who  are  supposed  to  have  the  spiritual  interests  of  that  field  at 
heart. 

How  can  we  hope  to  see  retained  among  all  ages  of  our  Church  the  child- 
like faith,  character,  and  love  Christ  commended  and  insisted  upon  his  follow- 
ers having,  if  the  lasting  foundation  is  not  laid  in  early  childhood,  and  we  do  not 
do  our  part  toward  helping  keep  the  children  ever  nearthe  great,  loving  heart  of 
the  Saviour,  so  they  may  never  have  the  opportunity  or  inclination  to  become 
aught  else  than  humble  followers  of  Jesus  Christ? 

Let  us  pray  God  to  teach  us  to  realize  the  awful  issues  of  eternal  life  or 
everlasting  death  that  lie  dormant  in  every  little  soul  born  into  this  world,  as 
thoroughly  as  Satan  knows  it. 

The  next  speaker  was  Dr.  Williams.  His  subject  was  "  Saved  to 
Serve." 

Address  of  Rev.  Hugh  Spencer  Williams,  Memphis,  Tenn. 

The  general  theme  which  commands  the  thoughtful  attention  of  this  great 
Convention  to-day  is  "  Saved  to  Serve." 

Christ  stamped  "service"  with  his  own  image  and  superscription  when  he 
declared  that  the  Son  of  man  came  "  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister," 
and  laid  down  as  a  principle  in  the  economics  of  his  kingdom  that  we  are  saved 
in  order  that  we  may  serve.  Service  is  thus  made  the  most  Christlike  and 
divine  aspect  of  our  mission  as  his  redeemed.  Our  purest  joys,  as  well  as  our 
highest  honors,  are  experienced  and  enjoyed  as  the  result  of  our  becoming  the 
"  servant  "  of  all.     The  incentives  to  such  a  life  of  service  are  truly  glorious. 

First,  service  is  self-ennobling.  It  always  brings  out  the  divinest  and  best  in 
our  nature  and  character.  God  has  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  become  true 
benefactors  by  any  real  service  rendered  in  any  capacity  without  also  becoming 
beneficiaries.  We  truly  receive  more  than  we  give  always.  The  true  giver,  the 
real  helper  of  others,  the  humble  and  self-forgetful  servant,  constantly  experi- 
ences the  truth  of  the  Master's  maxim,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive."  This  is  so;  because  he  becomes  rich  faster  in  real  assets  of  ennobled 
Christian  manhood  and  character  by  giving,  helping,  and  serving  than  it  is  pos- 
sible by  any  process  of  direct  bestowments  upon  him. 

Second,  the  great  moral  motor  which  moves  us  as  a  mighty  incentive  to  this 
blessed  service  is,  as  expressed  by  the  apostle,  "  The  love  of  Christ  con- 
straineth  us." 

1.  The  conception  of  this  infinite  love  of  Christ,  which  carried  him  from 
the  throne  to  the  cross  and  emptied  his  blessed  heart  of  its  divine  blood  in 
order  to  redeem  and  save  me,  draws  me  as  a  captive  and  willing  slave  to  his 
feet,  crying,  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do.?"  The  sense  of  loving 
gratitude  for  saving  me  from  the  jaws  of  eternal  death  overwhelms  me,  and  I 
bind  myself  with  the  cords  of  my  most  sacred  vows  to  his  holy  altar,  as  a  living 
sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable  in  his  sight,  wanting  to  be  used  as  he  may 
choose  ;  not  as  my  own,  but  his,  "  bought  with  a  price,  even  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ." 

2.  The  conception  of  the  scope  of  this  love,  that  "  he  died  for  all."  The 
love  of  Christ  outlasts  the  ages  and  reaches  the  remotest  edges  of  the  human 
race.  Hence,  the  redeemed  —  those  who  are  saved  —  enter  into  the  Christ 
spirit  at  once,  because  they  thus  judge  that  if  one  died  for  all  then  were  all 
dead.  Then  that  the  purpose  of  his  death  was  that  they  that  live  should  live 
not  henceforth  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him  which  died  for  them  and  rose 
again.  This  was  the  mighty  secret  spring  that  moved  Paul  to  Macedonia  as  a 
missionary  of  the  cross;  made  him  enter  Ephesus,  Corinth,  Athens,  and  Rome, 
and  made  his  missionary  journeys  co-extensive  with  the  then  known  world. 
Christ  had  died  for  a  world  dead  in  trespasses  and  sin,  and  they  that  live  must 


176  Official  Report  of  the 

not  live  for  self,  but  obey  the  divine  mandate  of  the  Master,"  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  This  same  spirit  made 
John  Knox  cry  aloud,  "  Give  me  Scotland  or  I  die,"  and  Wesley  to  exclaim, 
"  The  world  is  my  parish,"  and  moved  Dr.  Carey  to  leave  all  for  India.  In 
short,  this  almighty  incentive,  "  the  love  of  Christ,"  is  the  esprit  de  corps  that 
is  massing  and  moving  the  Church  of  God  in  a  solid  phalanx  upon  the  heathen 
world,  to  take  and  capture  it  for  Christ ;  and  this  is  what  moved  Dr.  Clark  fif- 
teen years  ago  to  ask  the  question  how  to  interest  and  use  the  young  men  and 
maidens  of  Christendom  for  Christ  and  the  Church. 

The  third  great  incentive  to  serve  is  the  infinite  value  and  greatness  of  the 
soul  and  the  eternal  interests  involved  in  its  salvation.  He  who  understood 
man  as  no  other  being  in  the  universe  could  understand  him  asked,  "  What  shall 
it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul.''  Or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  " 

The  greatness,  the  majesty  and  infinite  value  of  the  human  soul,  when  in  any 
measure  properly  conceived  of  by  the  saved,  as  an  object  to  be  rescued  from 
peril,  sweeps  like  a  tempest  over  the  mighty  deep  of  the  soul  until  every 
power  is  aroused  and  the  passion  for  lost  souls  becomes  intense  and  they  cry 
out,  "  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I 
might  weep  day  and  night  for  the  slain  of  the  daughter  of  my  people,"  and  with 
Paul  say,  "  I  could  wish  that  myself  were  accursed  from  Christ  for  my  brethren, 
my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh,"  and  like  Christ  the  Master,  who  wept  over 
Jerusalem,  saying,  "  How  oft,"  etc.,  "  How  can  we  have  any  conception  of  this 
mysterious  being,  such  as  will  thus  stir  our  souls  with  a  passion  for  his  sal- 
vation.? "  Consider  his  majestic  intellect  in  the  light  of  his  masterly  achieve- 
ments. Man's  mind  has  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  earth  on 
which  he  lives,  familiarity  with  almost  every  square  mile  of  its  surface,  its  pro- 
ducts, and  climates;  he  has  fathomed  the  depth  of  the  sea,  of  atmosphere  sur- 
rounding it.  Then  he  has  time  to  spare  to  scan  the  heavens,  count,  measure, 
and  weigh  the  stars  that  are  in  sight.  Then  he  invents  the  telescope  that  he 
may  sweep  the  more  distant  heavens  in  search  of  systems  which  lie  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  naked  eyes.  He  still  has  time  and  powers  unexhausted,  and 
begins  to  soliloquize  thus  :  Who  made  all  these.''  Who  is  he?  Where  is  he.'' 
Whence  came  he  'i  And  it  is  truly  marvelous  what  deductions  his  majestic 
mind  is  capable  of  concerning  the  infinite  first  cause;  and  he  reasons  from  cause 
to  effect  in  his  great  laboratory  of  facts  as  he  finds  them.  But  the  greatest  and 
most  wonderful  feature  of  his  mental  greatness  is  his  power  to  think  upon  his 
mysterious  thinking  self.  He  asks.  What  am  I .''  Whence  came  I,  and  whither 
am  I  going  ?  Not  at  all  strange  that  the  Psalmist  should  have  declared,  "  I  am 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made."  This  marvelous  mind  is,  however,  but  one 
feature  or  department  of  this  living,  thinking,  sentient,  and  active  being.  In 
the  realm  of  sensibilities  we  find  the  moral  powers,  consciousness,  conscience, 
love,  hate,  hope,  fear,  and  all  other  sentient  aspects  of  our  complex  being. 
These  are  the  faculties  through  the  medium  of  which  we  come  in  touch  with 
the  infinite.  Herein  is  spiritual  hunger  and  thirst  experienced.  Intellect  finds 
out  that  he  is  but  the  heart  alone,  by  reaching  out  the  finger  of  faith  can  touch 
the  hem  of  his  garment,  and  the  soul  is  thrilled  with  the  consciousness  of  his 
presence  and  wraps  himself  in  his  mantle,  like  Elijah  on  Mount  Horeb.  It  is 
the  function  of  conscience  to  hear  the  still  small  voice  of  God  and  recognize  it, 
and  of  faith  to  see  him.  and  that  of  love  to  lean  on  his  bosom.  All  this  and  in- 
finitely more  is  to  be  found  in  the  sanctmn  sanctortiin  of  these  emotions  or 
sensibilities  of  the  soul. 

From  here  we  pass  to  the  power  which  makes  man  responsible  for  his  acts 
and  his  destiny.  This  mysterious  power  we  call  will.  This  can  accept  or  re- 
ject any  proposition  the  eternal  Jehovah  may  make  to  man.  "  Choose  ye  this 
day  whom  ye  shall  serve."  This  in  brief  is  the  soul  akin  to  God  in  its  nature, 
the  offspring  of  the  eternal,  destined  to  live  with  God  and  enjoy  him  forever,  or 
to  be  banished  from  his  presence  into  outer  darkness,  lost  forever.  Is  the 
possibility  of  saving  such  a  pearl  not  an  incentive  to  even  superhuman  efforts? 
The  thought  of  such  a  magnificent  being  as  this  to  be  in  jeopardy,  on  board  a 


Fiftee7itJi  International  Convention.  177 

sinking  ship  in  a  refuge  of  lies  destined  to  be  swept  away,  leaving  him  exposed 
to  the  fury  of  outraged  justice,  must  sweep  across  the  heart-strings  of  the 
saved  and  call  them  to  serve  in  rescuing  this  great  and  precious  pearl  from 
peril. 

This  conception  of  the  majesty  and  greatness  of  the  soul  must  excite  every 
I  one  of  God's  redeemed  to  shout,  "  Throw  out  the  life-line,  some  one  is  sinking 
to-day."  Nothing  short  of  some  adequate  view  of  the  value  of  immortal  souls 
and  the  pending  peril  can  arouse  the  Church  to  earnest  service;  but  when  this 
great  truth  dawns  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  pastors  and  people  they  will 
never  fail  to  be  on  fire  with  a  passion  for  saving  and  serving  men. 

The  fourth  incentive  that  we  shall  name  is  the  certainty  of  the  outcome  of 
the  service,  {a).  "  The  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  "  They  all  shall  know  him,  from  the  least 
to  the  greatest  of  them."  So  that  there  is  absolute  certainty  that  our  labors 
shall  not  be  in  vain.  Success  is  the  eternal  decree  of  Jehovah,  {b).  Not  only 
are  we  sure  of  success  in  our  labors  to  enlighten  the  nations  of  heathendom  by 
the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  among  them  all,  but  the  reign  of  righteous- 
ness is  to  be  brought  in  Christ's  coming  to  reign  on  earth  a  thousand  years,  and 
then  is  to  be  a  new  earth  wherein  righteousness  shall  reign,  truth  shall  triumph, 
virtue  shall  be  crowned  as  victorious  forever  and  forever.  "  Holiness  unto  the 
Lord  "  shall  be  inscribed  upon  the  horse's  bridles;  every  blade  of  grass  shall 
become  an  /Eolian  harp,  as  it  waves  in  the  breezes  of  the  morning,  making 
music  to  the  coming  of  the  King.  The  branches  of  the  trees  shall  clap  their 
hands  together  in  the  hallelujah  chorus  of  the  universe.  Mountain-top  shall 
echo  to  mountain-top,  "  Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  his  glory,"  and  Gabriel 
shall  take  up  the  shout  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  have  become  the  king- 
doms of  the  Lord  and  his  Christ.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  time.  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  blend  their  alleluia  in  one  eternal  chorus  of  praises  to  their  conquer- 
ing King.  This  unalterable  assurance  of  ultimate  success  fires  the  souls  of  his 
servants  and  becomes  an  all-powerful  incentive  to  diligence  and  faithfulness 
until  the  Master  comes. 

Looking  at  the  world  this  late  in  the  evening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  with 
more  than  two-thirds  of  its  inhabitants  who  have  never  heard  of  Christ,  and  at 
Christendom,  with  its  millions  of  sceptics  and  scoffers,  and  many  more  millions 
of  dead  formalists  and  hypocrites,  it  would  appear  as  if  the  number  of  the 
finally  saved  would  indeed  be  small.  But  upon  a  closer  examination  of  facts, 
even  within  our  narrow  limitations,  we  find  the  reverse  of  this  to  be  the  unques- 
tionable truth  touching  this  interesting  and  important  matter.  We  arrive  at 
this  conclusion  :  (i).  From  Scriptural  intimations,  that  there  are  multitudes  who 
are  his"  sheep,"  though  not  of  this  or  that  denominational  fold.  Like  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,  and  Nicodemus,  they  are  disciples  in  secret.  They  are  his,  nev- 
ertheless, and  will  be  revealed  as  such  at  his  coming,  when  he  shall  make  up 
his  jewels.  (2).  From  the  hope  which  the  Word  of  God  warrants  that  many 
shall  come  from  the  East  and  from  the  West,  from  the  North  and  from  the 
South,  who  shall  sit  with  him  in  his  kingdom,  who  never  heard  the  sweet  name 
of  Jesus  while  here  on  earth.  Listen  to  the  declarations  of  God's  infallible 
Word.  "  For  when  the  Gentiles, which  have  not  the  (written  or  revealed)  law,  do 
by  nature  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law 
unto  themselves:  which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts,  their 
conscience  also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  meanwhile  accusing  or 
else  excusing  one  another."  (Rom.  ii.  14,  15.)  We  are  thus  led  to  hope  and  believe 
that  millions  of  heathen  through  the  long  line  of  past  ages  have  been  saved, 
through  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  although  ignorant  of  him.  We  cannot 
believe  that  these  countless  generations  of  heathen  have  been  born  to  be 
damned.  "  God  so  loved  the  world."  "  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man." 
"The  true  light  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  So  we  dare 
believe  and  hope  that  the  great  God  has  been  gathering  golden  sheaves  from 
the  vast  field  of  heathendom  to  fill  the  heavenly  garner.  (3).  We  are  con- 
firmed in  this  intelligent  conviction  that  the  throng  of  the  finally-saved  will 
overwhelmingly  outnumber  the  lost  by  the  fact  that  more  than  one-third  of  the 


178  Official  Report  of  the 

inhabitants  born  into  this  world  die  before  reaching  the  age  of  five  years,  and 
one-half  die  under  twelve  years  of  age.  The  blessed  Christ  has  settled  the 
question  of  their  salvation  when  he  said,  "  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come 
unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God."  Thus  we 
find  that  possibly  one-half  the  human  race  is  thus  saved  before  reaching  the 
line  of  personal  responsibility.  This  we  know  according  to  this  blessed  declar- 
ation: that  every  child  dying  before  reaching  the  line  of  moral  accountability  to 
God  goes  straight  to  heaven,  whether  they  be  infants  born  in  darkest  Africa  or 
India,  China  or  the  Islands  of  the  Sea, —  Christ  claims  them  as  his  own.  Never 
went  an  infant  to  hell  from  any  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  No  !  no  !  no ! 
Every  one  of  such  is  borne  from  its  mother's  arms  on  cherubic  wings  into  the 
bosom  of  the  Shepherd,  who  "bears  the  lambs  in  his  bosom."  Alleluia,  the 
mediatorial  administration  of  our  King  is  a  triumphant  success  !  The  hosts  of 
his  redeemed  outnumber  the  stars  and  discount  the  sands  on  the  seashore. 
Brother,  such  a  prospective  salvation  is  worthy  our  noblest  service.  Such  a 
glorious  hope  must  fire  with  holy  ambition.  For  such  prospective  triumph  it  is 
glorious  to  live  or  die. 

Unrolling  the  roll  of  honor  came  next.  Mr.  W.  L.  Amerman,  presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  City  Christian  Endeavor  Union,  was  in  charge. 

Remarks  of  Mr.  W.  L.  Amerman,  New  York  City. 

Not  every  speaker  has  the  manuscript  for  his  remarks  in  this  convenient 
form.  I  have  five  hundred  and  sixty  feet  of  it  here,  and  am  prepared  to  go  on 
all  day.  But,  prudently,  the  committee  have  limited  me  to  five  minutes,  so  1 
must  unroll  it  at  the  rate  of  something  over  one  hundred  feet  per  minute.  And 
rather  than  attempt  that,  I  will  just,  in  a  word,  call  your  attention  to  the  signifi- 
cance, not  of  what  is  on  this  roll,  but  of  what  is  not  on  it. 

We  have  here  gifts  recorded  from  some  8,200  societies.  That  does  not  mean 
that  the  other  38,000  gave  nothing  to  the  home  and  foreign  missionary  boards 
of  their  own  denominations,  but  it  simply  means  that  they  did  not  ask  to  be 
enrolled. 

We  know  very  well  that  they  gave  large  sums,  doubtless  a  larger  sum  than 
the  $152,000  which  is  inscribed  upon  this  roll. 

And  we  should  note  also  that  this  $152,000  does  not  represent  the  total  of  the 
gifts  of  the  members  of  these  societies  to  Christian  work,  nor,  indeed,  to  home 
and  to  foreign  missions. 

Whoever  heard,  for  instance,  of  a  Sunday-school  teacher  who  only  gave  to 
God's  work  what  she  gave  in  the  collection  in  the  Sunday  school  ?  And  yet  the 
great  mass  of  our  Endeavorers  are  Sunday-school  teachers.  We  know  very 
well  that  their  gifts  in  other  ways  outnumber  their  gifts  through  Christian 
Endeavor  sources  ten  to  one  ;  but  we  are  speaking  of  wliat  they  have  given  as 
societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  —  not  the  total  of  their  gifts  as  societies  of 
Christian  Endeavor  to  God's  work,  but  the  total  of  their  gifts  to  the  home  and 
foreign  missionary  boards  of  their  own  denominations. 

We  know  very  well  that  their  gifts  to  their  local  churches,  their  own  churches, 
have  been  far  larger  than  their  gifts  to  home  and  to  foreign  missions,  in  many 
and  many  a  case.  We  know  that  they  have  given  liberally  to  other  objects. 
We  need  to  realize  that  this  roll  of  honor  is  restricted  to  the  gifts  of  these 
societies,  as  societies,  to  the  home  and  to  the  foreign  missionary  boards  of  their 
own  denominations. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  missionary  statistics  of  the  Church,  and 
who  know  of  the  thousands  of  churches  in  all  the  prominent  denominations 
that  give  not  one  dollar,  never  give  one  dollar,  to  home  or  foreign  missions 
through  the  denominational  channels,  will  realize  what  this  record  means. 

There  are  societies  here  who  have  found  it  a  struggle  to  get  upon  this  roll  of 
honor;  there  are  societies  here  that  have  never  tried  to  be  enrolled,  and  have 
never  reported  their  gifts;  there  are  societies  here,  I  believe,  and  many  who 
are  not  here,  who  are  struggling  to  pay  their  expenses,  to  discharge  their  duty 


Fifteenth  International  Convaition,  179 

towards  their  own  church,  and  who  have  not  been  able  to  give  the  amount  that 
would  entitle  them  to  a  place  upon  this  roll  of  honor.  And  in  spite  of  all  these 
things,  in  spite  of  the  limited  number  of  societies  which  this  represents,  and  the 
immense  amount  of  money  which  has  been  given  by  those  societies  in  other 
ways,  this  roll  of  honor,  thank  God,  is  growing  larger  every  year! 

Then  followed  the  address  of  Dr.  Whitman. 

Address  of  President  B.  L.Whitman,  D.D.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  two  Testaments  have  a  common  key-word,  "  Emmanuel."  Its  interpreta- 
tion is  "  God  with  us."  Its  significance  is  the  will  of  God  to  dwell  in  the  midst 
of  men,  that  men  may  be  transformed  by  the  indwelling.  The  theme  appeals 
to  us  in  three  phases  : — 

I.  A  method  of  7'evelatio7i.  Man  has  never  been  left  in  ignorance  of  God. 
Successive  disclosures  have  been  made  of  the  divine  character  and  will.  As 
men  were  able  to  receive  it,  the  divine  purpose  has  been  spelled  out.  Slowly 
but  steadily  progress  has  been  made  in  the  conception  of  truth.  Instruments 
have  been  many,  but  their  use  has  been  one.  Many  forms  have  been  followed, 
but  the  central  idea  has  remained  the  same.  Moses  looked  to  Jehovah  as  Re- 
deemer. The  latest  saint  finds  his  faith  satisfied  by  the  same  thought;  only  in 
the  fulness  and  clearness  of  the  thought  has  there  been  change.  The  time 
came  when  the  message  could  be  delivered  in  completer  form.  "  God,  who  at 
sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners  spake  in  time  past  by  the  prophets,  hath 
in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his  Son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of 
all  things,  by  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds  ;  who  being  the  express  image  of 
his  person,  and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,  when  he  had  him- 
self purged  our  sins,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high  ;  being 
so  much  better  than  the  angels  as  he  hath  obtained  a  more  excellent  name  than 
they."  (Heb.  i.  1-4.)  In  this  manifestation  the  issue  of  all  revelation  was  made 
clear.  Then  "  Emmanuel  "  was  written  in  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  in  token 
that  the  fellowship  which  God  had  offered,  and  to  which  he  called  men,  was  at 
last  accomplished.  Christ  was  but  the  culmination  of  revelation.  In  him  God 
made  of  himself  a  personal  offering  so  that  men  knew  that  he  had  accepted  the 
lot  of  their  life  to  the  end  that  he  might  win  them  to  his  life,  and  so  abide  with 
them  forever.     This  is  the  theme  of  Sacred  Writ  from  Genesis  to  the  Gospels. 

II.     A  principle  of  life.     We  have  to  consider  : — 

1.  The  meeting-point  of  the  divine  and  the  human  life.  The  simplest  out- 
line of  psychology  will  make  this  clear.  Man  is  partly  physical  and  partly 
spiritual.  The  spiritual  part  is  essentially  the  man.  In  the  spiritual  part  we 
find  a  fourfold  function, —  intellect,  sensibility,  desire,  and  volition.  In  this 
fourfold  function  we  have  not  four  different  things  at  work,  but  one  thing 
working  in  four  different  ways.  Intellect  is  the  soul  knowing;  sensibility  is 
the  soul  feeling;  desire  is  the  soul  craving;  volition  is  the  soul  willing.  The 
four  functions  are  closely  related.  Knowledge  awakens  response  in  feeling  of 
satisfaction  or  dissatisfaction.  Feeling  passes  into  desire  or  aversion.  On  the 
basis  of  desire  or  aversion  will  is  determined  for  attainment  or  avoidance.  The 
step  in  the  process  of  importance  to  us  just  now  is  that  by  which  we  pass  from 
desire  to  will.  Will  never  acts  without  desire  in  the  form  of  motive.  Motive 
is  desire  accepted  as  controlling.  Unmotived  volition  is  a  contradiction  of 
terms.  Of  course,  the  choice  of  motive  is  not  without  reason.  It  is  no  mere 
clamor  of  impulses  with  ear  given  to  the  noisiest.  It  may  be  that  the  impulse 
weakest  at  the  outset  is  found  to  have  sanctions  which  authorize  it  to  take  pre- 
cedence of  all  others.  Once  accepted  as  controlling,  the  desire  or  impulse 
becomes  the  motive,  and  will  acts  according  to  it. 

2.  A  new  impulse  imparted  by  the  touch  of  God.  One  has  only  to  regard 
man  in  his  usual  condition  to  see  what  is  needed.  His  life  is  dominated  by 
wrong  motives.  The  inheritance  into  which  man  is  born  is  sinful,  at  least  in 
tendency.  Theology  easily  mistakes  an  inheritance  of  consequence  for  an  in- 
heritance of  penalty.  But  the  simple  awful  fact  that  faces  every  life  is  that, 
whether  as  consequence  or  as  penalty,  its  impulses  are  largely  evil.     It  is  beau- 


180  Official  Report  of  the 

tiful  to  talk  about  developing  the  soul  into  the  kingdom,  but  first  we  have  to 
reckon  with  the  stubborn  fact  that  until  the  soul  comes  under  the  domination 
of  a  new  impulse  it  has  no  place  in  the  kingdom. 

3.  The  new  impulse  become  regnant,  the  source  of  new  life.  We  under- 
stand now  the  importance  of  the  law  by  which  an  impulse  may  become  a  prin- 
ciple. Choice  may  be  so  often  repeated  that  a  habit  is  formed.  On  the  basis 
of  habit  what  we  call  second  nature  grows  up.  Second  nature  is  simply  the 
self  that  is  developed  by  choice,  that  has  become  habitual.  Whether  it  is  good 
or  evil  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  choice.  Under  the  touch  of  God  a 
right  impulse  is  imparted  which  is  accepted  as  dominant,  and  which  presently 
shapes  the  life.  Not  without  struggle.  Impulse  is  not  exempt  from  struggle 
because  regnant.  Only  at  cost  of  continual  struggle  does  it  maintain  mastery. 
Appetites  and  appetencies  of  an  ungodly  sort  assail  it  constantly.  One  has  only 
to  read  Romans  to  find  the  outline  of  the  struggle  in  his  own  life.  Fleshly  im- 
pulses impel  downward.  Spiritual  impulses  impel  upward.  God  or  the  devil 
—  which  shall  the  soul  have  ?  The  man  who  makes  his  choice  of  God  finds  that 
the  earthward  impulses  have  lost  dominion  over  him.  With  any  kind  of  faith- 
fulness the  upward  impulse  grows  in  power.  More  and  more  of  life  is  brought 
under  it.  Presently  every  thought  and  feeling  is  made  subject  to  the  divine 
will  and  the  divine  nature  becomes  second  nature.  Henceforth  the  way  of  life 
lies  along  the  heights. 

What  has  been  said  may  be  taken  as  in  brief  the  natural  history  of  regener- 
ation. It  emphasizes  a  point  we  are  forever  missing, —  regeneration,  while 
supernatural  in  its  effect,  is  natural  in  its  method.  There  are  two  methods  of 
self-examination  about  equally  defective.  One  takes  the  form  of  excessive 
analysis.  It  treats  the  soul  as  one  would  treat  a  botanical  specimen  —  and  with 
the  same  results.  It  takes  it  to  pieces,  labels  all  its  parts,  and  leaves  it  a  thing 
of  shreds  and  filaments,  with  no  life  and  with  no  use.  The  other  takes  the  form 
of  incantation.  It  treats  the  soul  in  bulk,  regards  it  as  a  meeting-place  of  mys- 
teries, and  waits  to  see  what  will  come  of  it.  The  divine  way  with  the  soul  is 
very  different  from  these.  It  compels  recognition  of  the  truth,  gives  peace  in 
believing,  awakens  desire  after  better  things,  and  impels  the  will  to  worthy 
choice.  There  is  no  man  but  needs  it.  In  the  most  spiritual  Augustine's  cry 
finds  echo :  "  O  God  ,  thou  hast  made  us  for  thyself,  and  our  souls  are  restless 
until  they  find  rest  in  thee."  There  is  no  man  but  maybe  moved  by  it.  Take 
the  veriest  savage,  with  just  soul  enough  to  keep  him  from  going  on  all  fours. 
He  hears  the  truth.  Impulse  is  awakened.  His  course  is  set  toward  heaven. 
Somehow,  an  instinct  for  better  things  seems  to  be  everywhere  waiting  for  the 
voice  of  God.  Christianity  is  the  embodiment  of  that  voice.  It  is  a  moral 
dynamic  quickening  the  entire  life.  Its  literature  is  stamped  with  the  same 
purpose.  The  Bible  is  not  a  dictionary,  or  grammar,  or  book  of  etiquette.  Its 
mission  is  an  impulse,  illuminating  the  intellect,  transforming  the  affection,  cul- 
tivating the  taste.  The  manifold  work  of  Christ  is  but  the  perfected  form  of 
that  impulse.  As  prophet  he  opens  and  interprets  the  world  of  truth.  As  priest 
he  satisfies  the  conscience.     As  king  he  takes  possession  of  the  will. 

III.  A  pledge  of  attainmetit.  The  motto  of  the  redeemed  life  is,  "  Saved  to 
serve."  A  man  has  a  very  meagre  notion  of  salvation  —  if,  indeed,  he  is  saved 
at  all  —  if  he  regards  his  life  as  an  end  in  itself.  Far  better  is  the  conception 
that  the  saved  life  is  part  of  the  great  order  in  which  righteousness  is  working 
itself  out  in  the  universe.  The  man  who  has  found  his  life  renewed  stands 
for  the  first  time  in  right  relation  to  the  order  of  things.  We  need  to  keep  in 
mind :  — 

I.  The  universe  as  law.  We  have  not  dropped  into  a  world  of  chance. 
Events  do  not  happen.  Two  and  two  do  not  make  four  to-day  and  something 
else  to-morrow.  An  axiom  is  an  axiom  as  long  as  the  order  lasts  of  which  it  is  a 
part.  Counteracting  of  effect  is  not  subversion  of  law.  A  table  may  be  inter- 
posed or  a  counter-attraction  applied,  but  none  the  less  the  stone  tends  toward 
the  earth  in  obedience  to  the  law  of  gravitation.  As  fast  and  as  far  as  it  is  left 
undisturbed  the  stone  will  follow  the  force  that  tugs  it  centreward.  It  is  not 
heavy  one  day  and  light  the  next.     The    universe  is  order.     It  is  what  it  is  be- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  181 

cause  God  is  what  he  is.  Its  guarantees  of  stability  are  furnished  by  the  un- 
changeableness  of  his  nature.  Because  we  beheve  in  him  we  accept  truth  with 
perfect  confidence  in  the  result.  Two  lines  started  from  given  points  in  given 
directions  will  move  on  and  on  and  never  meet.  They  may  encircle  the  uni- 
verse and  return  upon  themselves,  but  they  will  be  as  far  apart  as  when  they 
started.  You  can  not  follow  the  parallels  around  the  universe;  but  you  know 
they  will  never  meet,  for  the  power  that  fixed  the  relation  of  those  lines  is  the 
power  that  wrote  the  law  of  your  thought,  and  the  necessity  of  your  law  of 
thought  is  the  guarantee  that  the  facts  are  as  the  law  declares  them.  Two 
other  lines  will  meet  a  million  miles  away  in  space.  You  have  never  been  there 
to  see  it,  but  you  do  not  doubt  it,  for  God  tixed  the  relation  of  the  lines  and  the 
law  by  which  your  mind  accepts  the  result. 

2.  Obedience  as  adjustment  to  fundamental  relations.  The  immediate  form 
of  life  under  the  domination  of  the  new  impulse  is  obedience  to  the  will  of  God. 
Its  ultimate  form  is  free  development  under  a  central  and  symmetrical  impulse. 
Accretion  may  be  from  without.  Development  is  from  within.  The  tree  does 
not  need  a  chart  of  its  upward  progress,  but  a  vital  germ.  The  soul  does  not 
need  a  book  of  rules,  but  a  principle  of  life.  You  do  not  find  the  Bible  discuss- 
ing styles  of  dress  and  codes  of  manners.  Its  message  is,  Do  the  will  of  God. 
There  is  much  involved  in  that,  no  doubt.  "  Do  thy  duty  and  thou  shalt  know 
what  it  is  that  is  within  thee,"  says  Goethe,  chosing  the  words  of  Jesus.  "  If 
any  man  willeth  to  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  The  whole  sum 
of  life  is  simple  :  Do  the  will  of  God.  Life  is  a  circle.  We  know  only  a  small 
segment,  but  it  is  enough  to  the  show  curve.  Knowing  the  formula  for  the 
segment,  we  know  the  formula  for  the  circle:  Do  the  will  of  God.  This  helps 
us  understand  how  Jesus  could  speak  so  confidently  concerning  man.  "Jesus 
saw  not  the  primeval  savage  living  in  caves,  fighting  with  stick  or  stone.  He 
saw  not  the  half-civilized  man  of  early  ages,  struggling  in  constant  and  fierce 
rivalry  with  others  in  the  sharp  competition  of  existence.  He  saw  not  merely 
the  hero  of  Grecian  mold  or  of  Roman  fortitude.  He  saw  not  merely  the  mod- 
ern philanthropist  perking  about  a  little,  beginning  to  live  for  others,  building 
hospitals  and  asylums,  and  talking  about  altruism  or  universal  benevolence.  He 
saw  the  ultimate  man,  the  complete  man,  the  true  Son  of  man  who  came  down 
from  heaven."     (Rev.  E.  B.  Mason.)     He  saw  man  in  right  relation  to  God. 

One  of  the  banks  of  London  had  a  very  unique  and  ingenious  arrangement 
to  watcli  its  watchman.  Each  square  in  the  marble  floor  of  the  bank  rested 
upon  a  steel  point,  and  that  steel  point  connected  with  an  electric  wire,  and  each 
square  in  the  bank  was  numbered,  and  each  wire  numbered.  Those  wires  ran 
away  through  the  building  to  the  private  office  of  the  bank  officials. 

The  watchman  was  told  to  keep  awake,  and  to  keep  moving.  He  said  the 
place  was  safe.  So  he  took  a  newspaper  or  a  novel,  and  sat  down  on  a  chair 
by  the  light.  There  he  would  sit  and  read,  when  he  should  have  been  looking 
about.  One  day  they  sent  word  to  him  that  his  services  were  unsatisfactory. 
He  went  in  great  indignation  to  see  why  he  was  discharged.  They  told  him 
that  he  had  been  reading  or  asleep  in  his  chair.  He  said  that  it  was  not  so. 
He  knew  there  was  no  person  who  could  see  him,  and  there  was  no  person 
allowed  in  the  building;  he  knew  he  had  the  keys,  and  the  time-lock  was  on 
that  safe ;  so  he  felt  sure  no  one  could  have  seen  him.  In  indignation  he  threat- 
ened the  president  of  the  bank  for  accusing  him  of  telling  a  lie  when  he  denied 
that  he  had  sat  down  at  all  in  that  chair.  Then  they  called  him  into  the  office. 
They  took  out  a  piece  of  paper  which  represented  all  the  squares  on  the  floor, 
and  then,  taking  the  time-lock  checks,  put  them  beside  it.  "  Now,  my  man,  at 
three  minutes  of  eight  you  stepped  on  that  square,  and  then  on  that  one,  and 
then  on  that ;  then  you  immediately  turned  around,  and  went  back  and  stepped 
on  this  one,  and  you  did  not  step  from  this  one  for  two  hours.  Here  it  is. 
Every  time  you  stepped  on  a  square,  it  telegraphed  that  you  were  on  it." 

The  world  is  God's.  Obedience  to  God  is  adjustment  to  the  laws  by  which 
the  world  moves.  This  is  the  secret  of  success  in  lives  that,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, have  got  into  line  with  God.  The  blossoming  of  power  we  call 
genius  is  but  perfect  obedience  to  law.     Success  is  more  than  the  product  of 


182  Official  Report  of  the 

work.  To  succeed,  work  must  be  according  to  law.  The  seeker  after  gold  may 
wear  himself  out  d  igging  on  the  seashore.  To  get  gold  one  must  dig  where  gold 
is.  One  may  blunder  on  the  start,  and  that  is  well.  One  may  study  gold  and 
the  geologic  strata  in  which  gold  occurs  and  so  come  upon  it  intelligently,  and 
that  is  better.  In  either  case,  when  gold  is  found  it  is  found  because  the  seeker 
worked  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  gold.  In  absence  of  such  accord  there 
may  be  much  motion,  but  there  will  be  no  progress.  When  such  accord  is 
assured  every  stroke  counts.  When  a  man  gets  into  line  with  God's  law  he 
stands  for  God.  The  great  workers  have  always  wrought  in  this  representative 
capacity.  Results  which  stagger  belief  are  simply  the  product  of  harmony 
with  the  power  which  rules  the  universe  and  which  speaks  through  law. 

3.  Life  as  realization  of  divine  order  and  application  of  divine  power.  How 
great  the  marvel  is  after  all  the  dynamic  conception  of  the  universe  proves  to 
be  the  truth,  that  atoms  are  centres  of  activity,  that  the  formula  of  the  molecule 
is  a  formula  of  motion.  Oh  the  joy  of  the  thought  that  the  living,  personal 
God  is  working  through  all !  Atom  calls  to  atom,  and  planet  to  planet,  across 
immensity;  and  atom  answers  atom,  and  planet,  planet,  because  they  are  akin 
by  right  of  birth.  Man  is  no  stranger  in  the  world  in  which  he  walks.  He  has 
only  to  open  his  eyes  to  find  God.  Let  him  travel  where  he  will,  though  it  be 
to  the  remotest  star,  he  will  still  be  at  home  with  God.  The  atom  is  God's  handi- 
work, and  so  is  man.  But  man's  relation  to  God  is  unique.  God  was  not  lone- 
some or  lacking  before  man  was  created.  But  the  glory  of  the  creation  is  the 
life  which  God  begat  in  his  own  image  that  henceforth  there  might  be  in  the 
universe  some  to  work  in  God's  way.  Through  them  in  special  sense  God 
works  his  will.  We  have  only  begun  to  realize  the  possibilities  of  our  life.  But 
better  things  are  coming.  The  dawning  of  the  day  of  triumph  already  reddens 
the  sky.  With  better  sense  of  ourselves  as  instruments  of  the  divine  purpose 
we  shall  find  the  day  hastened.  The  vessel  for  God's  filling:  the  instrument 
for  God's  using:  the  messenger  for  God's  sending;  the  redeemed  for  God's 
witness  ;  —  this  is  our  glory  and  joy. 

If  we  have  not  thought  amiss  while  doing  our  duty  at  every  turn,  we  shall 
be  braced  for  greater  faithfulness  in  two  lines: — 

First,  we  shall  be  willing  to  let  God  provide  for  part  of  his  work  through 
others.  A  noble  thing  is  told  of  Mr.  Charles  H.  Haseltine,  whose  building  stood 
next  the  building  of  the  Baptist  Publication  Society  and  was  burned  with  it. 
Mr.  Haseltine  was  teaching  his  class  in  Sunday  school  when  some  one  rushed 
up  to  him  with  the  news  that  his  building  was  in  flames.  Mr.  Haseltine  turned 
again  to  the  lesson.  '"But  what  are  you  going  to  do  ?"  excitedly  asked  his 
informant.  "  I  am  going  to  teach  this  lesson."  was  the  quiet  reply.  "  I  am  not 
a  fireman  and  can  do  nothing  to  help  put  the  fire  out." 

Second,    we  shall  be  content  to  accept  God's  plans  for  us  as  best. 

"Sometime,  when  all  life's  lessons  have  been  learned, 

And  suns  and  stars  forevermore  have  set, 
The  things  which  our  weak  judgment  here  have  spurned, 

The  things  o'er  which  we  grieved  with  lashes  wet, 
Will  flash  before  us  out  of  life's  dark  night, 

As  stars  shine  most  in  deeper  tints  of  blue, 
And  we  shall  see  how  all  God's  plans  were  right, 

And  how  what  seemed  reproof  was  love  most  true. 
"  And  you  shall  shortly  know  that  lengthened  breath 

Is  not  the  sweetest  gift  God  sends  his  friend, 
And  that  sometimes  the  sable  pall  of  death 

Conceals  the  fairest  boon  his  love  can  send. 
If  we  could  push  ajar  the  gates  of  life. 

And  stand  within  and  all  God's  workings  see, 
We  could  interpret  all  this  doubt  and  strife. 

And  for  each  mystery  could  find  a  key. 
"  But  not  to-day.    Then  be  content,  poor  heart ; 

God's  plans,  like  lilies  pure  and  white,  unfold. 
We  must  not  tear  the  close-shut  leaves  apart ; 

Time  will  reveal  the  calyxes  of  gold. 
And  if  thro'  patient  toil  we  reach  the  land 

Where  tired  feet  with  sandals  loose  may  rest. 
When  we  shall  clearly  know  and  understand. 

I  think  that  we  will  say,  '  God  knew  the  best.'  " 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  183 

The  last  speaker  was  Dr.  Chapman. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

This  morning  I  want  to  speak  very  briefly  to  all  of  you  on  the  subject  of  one 
baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  for  all  believers.  Many  in-fillings  with  the  same 
Holy  Ghost  are  possible,  and  sometimes  necessary.  The  last  point, — -special 
anointings  of  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity  are  to  be  sought  for  for  every 
special  service  upon  which  we  enter. 

It  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  say  with  me  a  few  verses  of  Scripture  —  not 
in  every  case  a  whole  verse,  sometimes  just  a  clause;  but  will  you  allow  me  to 
say  the  verse  first,  and  then  ask  you  to  repeat  it  with  me  ? 

This  is  the  first :  Acts  i.  5  :  "  John  truly  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall 
be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire,  not  many  days  hence."  Say  it 
with  me:  "John  truly  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire,  not  many  days  hence."  Second  clause:  Acts  ii.  4: 
"  And  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  Say  it:  "  And  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  last  verse:  Luke  iv.  18:  "The  spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
poor."  Say  it :  "  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor." 

I  dare  to  assert  this  morning,  with  the  Word  of  God  for  my  authority,  that 
every  single  Christian  Endeavorer  in  this  tent,  in  all  these  tents,  in  the  city  of 
Washington,  in  the  United  States,  in  America,  in  the  world,  may  have,  if  he 
will,  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  only  necessary  that  we  should  be 
willing  to  pay  the  price,  for  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  Some  of  you  here 
to-day  stand  for  culture.  That  is  no  barrier.  As  an  illustration,  let  me  present 
the  woman  who  is  to  speak  to  us  in  this  conference,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Whitmore.  I 
believe  that  she  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  of  this  day, —  a  woman 
of  high  social  position,  and  yet  a  woman  so  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  that  to 
stand  in  her  presence,  even  if  she  opens  not  her  lips  to  speak,  is  to  feel  the 
mighty  presence  of  God.  Some  of  you  do  not  stand  for  culture,  and  possibly 
you  might  lay  claim  to  ignorance.  Do  any  of  you  know  who  it  was  that  Dr.  John 
Hall  said  he  counted  the  most  influential  man  in  Christian  work  in  the  great  city 
of  New  York,  in  all  his  acquaintance  with  it?  Do  you  know  his  name.'*  He  did 
not  preach  on  Fifth  Avenue.  He  did  not  stand  as  the  leader  of  a  congregation 
of  millionaires  in  the  city.  Dr.  John  Hall  said  that  the  man  that  seemed  to  him 
to  be  the  mightiest  illustration  of  the  power  of  God  in  all  the  city  was  the  poor 
old  river  thief  in  days  gone  by,  Jerry  McAuley.  And  I  say  that  if  to-day  you 
are  pleading  ignorance,  ignorance  is  no  barrier.  The  promise  is  for  you.  Some 
people  say  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  is  every  Christian's  privilege.  It 
is  not  Scriptural  to  state  it.  The  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  is  every  single 
Christian's  birthright.  It  is  his  birthright,  and  it  is  yours  for  the  claiming. 
Some  of  you  may  say  to-day,  "  Well,  I  don't  stand  for  ignorance.  I  stand  for 
quite  the  opposite."  Then  I  hold  before  you  that  man  who  has  been  an  inspi- 
ration to  me  in  evangelistic  work,  that  man  the  very  sound  of  whose  name, 
when  I  was  a  student,  was  an  inspiration  and  an  uplifting  power, —  Charles  G. 
Finney.  He  was  filled  —  nay,  he  had  been  baptized  —  with  the  Holy  Ghost; 
and  so  I  state  here  to-day  that  this  blessing  is  for  you ;  and  I  thank  God  this 
blessing  is  for  me. 

I  think  I  ought  to  give  you  another  verse  of  Scripture.  Listen  to  it,  for  if 
we  can  not  find  Scripture  to  fortify  us  in  this  position,  our  opinions  will  profit 
us  nothing.  The  second  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  32d 
verse :  "  Repent  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of  you,  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  But,  friends,  while  it  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  plan  of  God  to  give  to  every  one  of  his  children,  the 
moment  they  enter  into  saving  relations  with  him,  the  full  baptism  with  the 
Spirit,  how  many  people  do  you  know  that  entered  into  the  full  blessing  at  the 
moment  of  conversion  .?  How  many?  Well,  I  know  a  good  many  of  the  Chris- 
tian workers;  I  know  almost  all  of  the  evangelists;  I  know  many  of  the  men 
and  women  whom  God  has  blessed.     I  do  not  know  one  single  soul,  man  or 


184  Official  Report  of  the 

woman,  that  entered  into  the  full  reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  time  of 
conversion.  Every  single  Christian  has  the  Holy  Ghost  for  life,  and,  therefore, 
if  we  want  the  enlarging  blessing,  we  need  not  pray  for  his  coming.  He  is 
here.  He  abides  in  me.  It  is  his  work  to  abide  in  me.  If  I  want  to  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit, — nay,  if  I  would  be  baptized  with  the  Spirit, — I  need  only  to  take 
away  the  hindrance,  take  away  the  hindrance.  This  morning  I  talk  to  you 
along  that  line.  Now,  then,  a  great  many  people  talk  about  getting  hold  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  getting  more  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Why,  bless  your  souls, 
friends,  you  have  had  more  of  the  Holy  Ghost  since  your  conversion  than  you  have 
used.  That  is  not  the  need  ;  that  is  not  the  need.  I  remember  going  through 
one  of  the  World's  Fair  Buildings  and  seeing,  away  at  the  end  of  the  building, 
what  I  thought  was  a  man.  He  had  his  hand  on  the  crank  of  a  certain  kind  of 
a  pump,  and  he  was  turning  it  round  and  round.  I  stayed  in  the  building  an 
hour,  and  the  man  never  stopped  work  for  an  instant.  I  said  to  myself,  "He 
is  not  constructed  on  the  same  plan  that  I  am  or  he  would  have  grown  weary." 
But  when  I  came  nearer  to  the  spot  where  he  stood,  I  found  that  it  was  not  a 
man.  It  was  just  the  figure  of  a  man,  the  form  of  a  man,  and  I  found  that  he 
was  n't  turning  the  crank  at  all,  but  that  the  crank  was  turning  him.  Well,  friends, 
that  is  the  secret.  I  do  not  want  the  Holy  Ghost  that  I  may  mark  out  a  chan- 
nel in  which  he  may  run  for  me  and  my  glory  ;  but,  before  God  to-day,  I  crave 
for  myself  and  for  everj'  Christian  Endeavorer  that  the  Holy  Ghost  might  come 
upon  'me  and  upon  you  and  send  us  whithersoever  God  will.  That  is  the 
secret  of  power. 

Now,  I  have  an  idea.  Possibly  some  of  these  ministers  who  know  far  more 
about  the  truth  than  I  would  not  agree  with  me.  Nevertheless,  I  think  it  is  a 
good  illustration.  I  think  that  when  Jesus  said,  ''John  truly  baptized  with 
water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence,"  he 
was  using  the  figure  of  baptism  as  an  illustration  that  the  baptism  of  water 
stood  as  "an  illustration  for  what  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  might  be. 
Now,  then,  if  that  is  true,  I  have  three  points  to  make  quickly  :  — 

1.  Baptism  is  always  a  definite  experience.  How  many  of  you  know  just 
when  you  were  converted.^  How  many  of  you?  Well,  lift  up  your  hands  if 
you  know  the  day  and  the  hour.  Up  with  your  hands.  (Part  of  the  audience 
raised  their  hands).  Now,  listen  to  this.  How  many  of  you  do  not  know  the 
day  you  were  converted,  and  yet  to-day  you  say,  '"  I  know  I  have  passed  from 
death  to  life  "?  Up  goes  my  hand  first.  (Others  of  the  audience  raise  their 
hands.)  Ah,  friends,  I  believe  a  man  may  be  a  Christian  and  not  know  just 
the  time  he  crossed  the  line  into  the  kingdom.  But  I  do  believe  that  no  man 
in  all  this  world  can  be  a  Christian,  filled  with  all  the  power  of  God,  without  he 
has  a  definite  experience  touching  the  Holy  Ghost  —  a  definite  experience 
touching  the  Holy  Ghost. 

If  you  do  not  know  the  day  of  your  surrender  to  him,  make  it  to-day.  If 
you  can  not  put  your  finger  upon  the  hour,  make  it  this  hour.  If  you  can  not  put 
it  upon  the  minute,  let  this  be  the  minute.  Baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
definite. 

2.  Baptism  signifies  complete  surrender  —  complete  surrender.  Well,  now, 
take  the  figure  immersion,  though  I  could  take  the  other  just  as  well.  When  a 
man  presents  himself  for  baptism,  what  does  he  do  ?  Well,  he  does  n't  say  to 
the  administrator,  "  I  want  to  be  baptized  forward.'"  or  "sideways,"  or  "back- 
wards; "  what  does  he  do  ?  He  simply  puts  himself  without  question  into  the 
hands  of  the  administrator.  Well,  my  friends,  I  believe  that,  whatever  your 
intellectual  equipment  may  be,  no  man  in  all  the  world  can  receive  the 
baptism  with  the  Holy  Spirit  without  he  surrenders  absolutely  to  God  every 
single  thing  ;  give  up  every  single  thing,  put  upon  the  altar,  and  then,  hands  off 
forever  —  forever ! 

3.  Baptism  as  a  formal  rite  is  the  death  of  self  —  the  death  of  self.  No  man 
can  ever  claim  this  blessing  so  long  as  he  allows  the  fiesh  to  come  up.  The 
Rev.  F.  B.  Myer  says,  "  If  you  want  a  good  definition  of  fiesh,  drop  the  letter 
'  h  '  and  spell'it  backwards. —  s-e-l-f."  I  heard  of  a  man,  one  of  our  own  minis- 
ters, who  delivered  an  address  over  in  London  the  other  day  lasting  twenty 


FiftccntJi  Intc7-)iational  Convention.  185 

minutes,  and  in  the  twenty  minutes  he  used  the  personal  pronoun  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  times.  Well,  friends,  the  Spirit  of  God  does  not  lead  us  to  do 
that.  The  death  of  self!  Have  you  a  detinite  experience.''  Will  you  take  it 
to-day  by  faith  }     God  help  you  to  do  it ! 

Now,  then,  I  think  the  manifestation  depends  upon  the  individual.  Some 
persons  think  if  they  were  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  they  would  be  preach- 
ers, and  they  would  stand  up  in  the  presenc  of  this  congregation,  and  they 
would  sway  men's  hearts  and  minds,  and  sweep  them  by  the  thousand  into  the 
kingdom.  "  Ah,"  you  say,  "  I  know  that ;  that  is  the  reason  I  want  it."  Why, 
friends,  there  is  flesh  in  that  —  flesh  in  that.  Hear  me  when  I  say  that  Simon 
Peter  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  swung  3,000  people  into  the  kingdom, 
I  know.  But  hear  me  again.  Stephen  was  filled  with  the  same  Spirit,  and  was 
stoned  to  death.  I  think  the  time  has  come  when  the  influence  of  Jesus  Christ 
might  be  further  advanced  if  men  should  take  such  a  stand  for  the  truth  that 
thev  would  be  actually  stoned  to  death  upon  the  streets. 

The  next  thing, —  if  we  are  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  what  shall  we  be.? 
Witnesses.  Where  do  we  begin  to  witness  .?  Well,  a  great  many  people  want 
to  begin  at  the  wrong  end,  at  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  "  Well  if  I 
could  just  go  out  there  to  China!  "  God  never  sends  a  man  to  a  higher  posi- 
tion until  he  has  filled  to  overflowing  the  lower  position  — never  I  What  does 
the  Scripture  say }  •'  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  in  Jerusalem  first,  then 
Judea,  then  Samaria,  then  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

If  you  are  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Conven- 
tion of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  first  thing  you  will  do  will  be  to  go  back  home 
and  let  your  wife  know  that  you  have  gotten  something  that  you  have  never  had 
before,  and  you  won't  have  to  tell  her  that  you  have  it.  A  man  is  respom 
sible  for  the  atmosphere  that  is  around  him.  I  have  a  great  many  persons  that  1 
call  friends  who  make  me  mad  when  I  come  within  ten  feet  of  them  —  well, 
when  I  come  within  a  hundred  feet.  I  have  other  friends  if  I  come  within  a 
thousand  feet  of  whom  my  heart  begins  to  burn,  and  I  say,  "  This  is  a  fore- 
taste of  heaven." 

Well,  I  can  not  say  anything  about  the  filling  of  the  Holy  Ghost —  I  make  a 
distinction  between  the  baptism  and  the  filling  —  except  this  :  if  I  have  had  the 
definite  experience, —  and  I  thank  God  I  have,  October  16,  1892, —  it  is  written 
on  the  book  at  half-past  three  in  the  afternoon.  Not  perfection ;  not  sinless- 
ness;  not  boasting  myself  that  I  am  better  than  other  men,  for  God  knows  and 
I  know  that  that  would  be  untrue;  but  if  I  have  had  the  definite  experience, 
then  if  I  am  going  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  I  must  every  single 
day  be  filled. 

I  walked  along  the  streets  of  Northfield,  Mr.  Moody's  home,  with  the  Rev. 
F.  B.  Myer,  on  one  of  the  most  beautiful  mornings  that  I  think  God  could 
make;  aiid  I  said  to  him,  "  Mr.  Myer,  I  have  had  a  definite  experience.  But 
something  is  wrong  with  me.  What  is  it  ?  "  And  the  great  teacher,  whom  I 
delight  to  honor,  took  my  hand  in  his,  and  said,  "Your  difficulty  is  the  same  as 
mine."  He  says,  "  Stop  a  minute.  You  never  breathe  out  physically  without 
first  of  all  breathing  in."  Well,  now,  let 's  just  stop  a  second  and  see  if  that 
is  n't  true  ;  you  begin  to  breathe  now.  See  how  you  do  it .''  Breathe  in  first  and 
out  second.  And  the  Rev.  F.  B.  Myer  said,  and  I  should  have  gone  around  the 
world  to  have  him  say  it  to  me,  "  I  need,  my  brother,  and  so  do  you,  to  keep 
all  the  time  breathing'  in,  and  breathing  in  spiritually."  That  is  keeping  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  last  point, —  special  anointings  for  special  service.  I  think  a  minister 
ought  never  to  preach  his  sermon  without  waiting  before  God  for  an  anointing 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  I  believe,  brethren  in  the  ministry,  that  it  be  a  good 
thing  sometimes  if  our  people  would  go  into  our  churches  and  find  the  pulpits 
empty  while  you  and  I  wait  for  the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  think  that 
no  man  should  ever  sing  a  hymn  without  asking  for  the  anointing  of  the  Spirit. 
I  believe  that  no  Sunday-school  teacher  should  meet  her  class  without  asking 
for  the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Harry  Morehouse,  the  great  evangelist  of  years  gone  by,  who  came  across 


186  Official  Re  fort  of  the 

to  this  country  and  preached  in  Mr.  Moody's  church  seven  nights,  on  John  iii. 
i6,  came  back  the  second  time  to  Chicago  ;  and  they  had  billed  the  whole  city, 
that  "  Harry  Morehouse,  the  great  evangelist,"  was  to  speak  in  Farwell  Hall. 
The  hour  came,  and  the  historic  room  was  filled.  Harry  Morehouse  came  out 
on  the  platform;  to  the  right  of  him  sat  Mr.  Moody ;  to  the  left  of  him,  Mr. 
Jacobs  ;  back  of  him,  William  Reynolds,  and  I  don't  know  but  Mr.  Sankey. 
All  about  him  were  the  leading  Christian  workers  of  that  great  western  city. 
And  Harry  Morehouse  stood  up  and  announced  his  text,  and  then  stopped. 
He  read  it  a  second  time  and  stopped  again.  He  read  it  the  third  time,  and 
then  deliberately  closed  his  Bible,  and  Mr.  Moody  said  he  left  the  platform  and 
went  into  the  little  anteroom.  They  waited  fully  five  minutes,  and  he  did  not 
come,  and  then  Mr.  Jacobs  went  down.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  Morehouse,  what 
does  it  mean?  Here  we  have  billed  the  whole  city,  and  Farwell  Hall  is  filled 
to  suffocation.  There  will  be  great  disappointment."  "Ah,"  said  the  man  that 
knew  his  God  so  well,  and  was  so  filled  with  the  Spirit,  ''that  is  the  trouble; 
that  is  the  trouble.  It  has  been  all  '  Harry  Morehouse',  and  it  has  been  noth- 
ing of  the  Lord.     And  I  can  not  preach." 

And  Mr.  Jacobs  fell  on  his  knees  beside  him,  and  Mr.  Moody  bound  his 
arms  about  him.  And  Mr.  Reynolds  prayed,  as  tlie  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks;  and  they  waited  for  twenty  minutes,  and  the  people  sat  in  silence  in 
the  other  room.  And  then  Harry  Morehouse,  with  his  face  shining  like  an 
angel's,  with  his  heart  burning  with  that  lire  that  comes  down  only  from  on 
high,  stood  before  the  crowd  of  people  and,  tilled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
swayed  them  with  the  power  that  comes  from  above  until  it  seemed  as  if  a 
hundred  people  and  more  had  pressed  their  way  into  the  kingdom. 

O  brethren  in  the  ministry,  that  is  what  we  need ;  that  is  what  we  need ! 
To-day  I  dare  to  stand  and  say,  with  this  old  Book  in  my  hand,  and  resting 
upon  it  as  my  authority,  that  there  is  not  a  Christian  Endeavorer  here  but  what 
might  go  back  to  his  home  with  his  life  transformed,  if  he  were  only  to 
surrender  to  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Are  you  ready  to  do  it,  friends  ?  I  don't  know  but  that  I  am  going  beyond 
my  bounds;  but  I  will  take  the  liberty.  Are  you  ready  to  do  it.''  We  have 
come  to  Kadesh-Barnea;  Canaan  is  just  beyond  us.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
ours  for  the  choosing.  Will  you  enter  to-day  and  put  it  down,  July  the  loth,  i8g6. 
at  12  o'clock  and  8  minutes,  "  I  surrender  to  God  "  ?  Will  you  say  it,  friends? 
If  you  will,  I  would  like  to  pray  with  you.  Will  you  say  it?  Every  Christian 
Endeavorer  in  the  house  that  would  just  like  to  say  to-day,  "  I  want  to  enter 
into  the  land  that  flows  with  milk  and  honey,"  stand  to  your  feet. 

The  audience  rose,  as  requested,  and  w^as  led  in  prayer  by  the 
speaker.  Mr.  Sankey  sang  and  led  the  Convention  in  prayer,  and 
then  the  audience  was  dismissed. 

Wesley  M.  E.  Church. 
Junior  Workers'  Meeting. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  profitable  meetings  was  the  meeting 
of  the  Junior  workers,  held  in  Wesley  M.  E.  Church.  Long  before  the 
hour  for  the  exercises  to  begin  the  beautiful  little  edifice  was  filled,  and 
the  delegates  sang  one  after  another  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  hymns, 
until  the  musical  leader,  Mr.  Chas.  S.  Clark,  of  Washington,  took  charge 
of  the  singing.  Secretary  John  Willis  Baer  presided,  and  after  a  short 
service  of  praise,  introduced  Rev.  M.  Ross  Fishburn,  of  Washington, 
who  conducted  the  devotional  exercises. 

Miss  Grace  E.  Hyde,  of  Winchendon,  spoke  first  of  "  A  Model  Jun- 
ior Society." 


Fifteenth  Internatiojial  Convention.  187 

Address  of  Miss  Grace  E.  Hyde,  Winchendon,  Mass. 

At  a  flower  exhibition  in  London  there  was  one  plant  far  more  beautiful  than 
all  the  rest.  Beside  this  plant  stood  its  owner,  a  little  girl  in  a  patched  calico 
dress.  When  the  man  in  charge  told  her  that  her  geranium  had  won  the  first 
prize,  he  asked  her  how  it  happened  that  among  so  many  beautiful  plants  hers 
was  the  most  luxuriant.  The  little  girl  told  him  how  she  had  cared  for  it.  She 
lived  in  a  large  tenement-house,  but  on  the  tifth  floor,  where  the  air  was  pure  and 
the  sun  shone  all  day.  Each  morning  she  had  put  the  plant  in  the  east  window, 
where  it  would  catch  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  ;  in  the  afternoon  she  had  changed 
it  to  the  west  window,  turning  it  around  so  that  the  other  side  would  receive  the 
warmth  until  the  sun  went  down.  Under  the  influence  of  pure  air  and  warm 
sunlight  the  plant  grew  in  symmetry  and  beauty. 

In  a  similar  way  the  model  Junior  Society  expands  the  lives  of  the  children 
into  beauty  and  usefulness.  Flooded  with  the  warm  sunshine  of  God's  love, 
growing  into  his  likeness  by  contact  on  all  sides  with  Christian  influences,  the 
children  develop  into  the  most  beautiful  blossoms  in  Christ's  kingdom. 

In  the  catalogue  of  the  Harvard  College  Summer  School  is  an  announce- 
ment of  two  courses  in  physical  training;  one  is  a  course  in  theory,  the  other  in 
practice.  Each  is  valuable  in  itself ;  one  supplements  the  other ;  but  to  one  who 
is  striving  for  the  perfect  development  of  his  muscles,  of  what  worth  is  the 
theory  without  the  practice  .''  In  our  spiritual  training  the  Sunday  school  gives 
the  theory  of  Christian  living;  the  societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  the  prac- 
tice. In  the  Sunday  school  children  are  taught  to  know  Christ  and  to  love 
him ;  in  the  Junior  Society  they  are  taught  to  work  for  him.  "  Love  is 
idle  that  knows  no  service. "  In  a  model  Junior  Society  then,  the  boys  and 
girls  are  trained  to  serve.  A  Junior  Society  makes  service  intensely  practical. 
In  one  of  our  model  societies  in  Massachusetts,  the  Juniors  were  interested 
in  collecting  orange-peel  for  a  poor  old  lady  who  dried  it  and  sold  it  for  making 
extract.  In  another  they  brought  eggs,  which  were  carried  to  poor  sick  people 
or  to  the  hospital. 

At  the  entrance  of  a  beautiful  garden  this  sign  is  said  to  have  been  placed  : 
"Joy  and  cheerfulness  found  in  this  garden  by  all  who  bring  them."  In  a 
model  Junior  Society  Christ  is  found  by  all  who  bring  to  its  meetings  a  spirit 
of  willingness  to  learn  about  him  and  to  speak  for  him,  a  spirit  of  helpfulness 
and  of  unselfish  kindness  toward  one  another. 

In  a  model  society  the  superintendent  (who  should  be  a  permanent  officer) 
is  wise,  tactful,  loving ;  she  understands  children  and  guides  them  trustingly 
into  God's  kingdom.  The  superintendent  and  her  assistants  are  present  at 
every  meeting.  The  Juniors  are  attentive,  responsive.  They  play  the  piano, 
sing,  lead  their  own  meetings.  They  hold  regular  business  meetings  and  give 
committee  reports.  They  have  frequent  socials.  They  give  systematically  for 
missions.  They  each  have  some  definite  work  to  do.  The  boys  and  girls  are 
taught  to  show  Christ  in  their  lives.  A  strong  testimony  in  favor  of  our  work 
is  one  given  by  the  public-school  teachers  in  a  town  where  it  was  thought  that 
the  Junior  Society  would  be  disbanded  on  account  of  the  sickness  of  the  super- 
intendent. These  teachers  said,  "  The  Junior  Society  must  not  be  given  up. 
You  have  no  idea  how  wonderfully  it  has  improved  the  deportment  in  our 
schools.     We  can  not  spare  it." 

An  old  Scotch  woman  once  thanked  her  pastor  for  the  helpful  sermon  he 
had  preached  the  previous  Sunday.  He  asked  her  what  particular  thought  had 
helped  her,  —  if  it  was  the  text.  No.  she  did  not  remember  the  text.  Was  it 
any  one  sentence?  No.  she  could  not  recall  any  special  sentence.  "  Well,"  said 
her  pastor,  "you  said  my  sermon  helped  you;  yet  you  do  not  remember  any- 
thing in  it.  I  do  not  understand  you."  "  It  is  true,"  replied  the  woman,  "that 
I  do  not  remember  the  text,  or  any  one  sentence;  but  I  see  the  effect  in  my 
life.     I  am  a  better  Christian  for  having  heard  that  sermon." 

The  boys  and  girls  in  our  Junior  Societies  may  not  be  able  to  tell  why  they 
love  Christ  and  serve  him,  or  to  explain  fully  the  meaning  of  their  pledge  ;  but 
if  they  are  so  trained  that  they  live  Christ  every  day,  then  your  society  is  a 
model  Junior  Society. 


188  Official  Report  of  the 

The  next  speaker  was  Miss  Jennie  T.  Masson,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
whose  topic  was  "A  Model  Junior  Superintendent." 

Address  of  Miss  Jennie  T.  Masson,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

The  work  of  the  Junior  superintendent  is  to  be  done  on  earth,  hence  the  word 
"model"  does  not  mean  perfect  or  angelic.  It  means,  the  best  to  be  had. 
Model  Junior  superintendents  are  not  born,  but  made. 

Any  society  can  cultivate  one,  provided  there  be,  to  start  with,  a  good-tem- 
pered Endeavorer  in  love  with  the  boys  and  girls.  No  society  lacks  such  a 
member.  Indeed,  once  in  a  while  in  a  society  can  be  found  a  sweet-tempered, 
children-loving  Endeavorer  who  can  sing  and  play,  give  chalk  talks,  tell  fascin- 
ating Bible  stories;  who  has  the  power  to  control ;  who  is  as  alert  as  the  sun- 
rise, as  placid  as  the  first  lily  that  bloomed  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  as  definite 
as  a  railroad  track,  as  spiritual  as  the  thoughts  of  an  angel,  as  full-grown  as  a 
California  welcome.  Such,  however,  is  a  shming  exception.  God  evidently  is 
not  Christianizing  the  world  by  means  of  prodigies. 

Still,  the  model  Junior  superintendent  has  all  these  qualities.  She  does  not 
always,  however,  combine  them  in  her  own  person.  Happy  is  she  if  she  can 
herself  teach  the  ready  lips  to  pour  out  the  music  of  Junior  songs.  But  just  as 
happy  may  she  be  to  inspire  interest  and  attention  and  order  while  some  singer 
from  the  Junior  committee  of  the  senior  society  performs  the  pleasant  duty. 
She  can  talk  up  such  a  pleased  anticipation  of  a  blackboard  exercise  that  even 
before  the  artist  comes  his  chalk-talk  will  have  begun  to  bear  fruit.  She  can 
love  the  children  so  much  that  she  will  not  be  jealous  if  others  share  with  her 
the  adoration  of  the  child-hearts.  Oh,  she  can  with  God's  help  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  senior  workers  become  an  acceptable  Junior  superintendent. 
That  is  the  chief  motive  of  this  paper,  —  to  inspire  some  one  to  try  to  be  culti- 
vated into  a  model  Junior  superintendent. 

This  is  the  report  that  came  the  other  day  from  a  State  superintendent  of 
Junior  work,  —  twelve  Junior  Societies  disbanded  because  of  no  one  to  superin- 
tend ;  and  all,  very  probably,  because  those  who  might  have  done  the  work  were 
afraid.  Afraid  of  yourself ;  afraid  of  making  a  mistake  !  Probably  you  will 
make  a  mistake,  but  it  could  not  possibly  be  so  great  as  the  mistake  of  dis- 
banding. 

We  carry  for  our  motto,  "  The  world  for  Christ,"  and  yet  every  disbanded 
Junior  Society,  every  failure  to  organize,  delays  the  consummation  of  that 
motto.  Shall  that  delay  occur  because  we  will  not  learn  the  above  given  mean- 
ing of  a  model  Junior  superintendent, — take  the  best  you  have  and  do  the  best 
you  can? 

Right  here  is  about  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  remark  that  the  feminine  pro- 
noun seems  to  be  the  one  generally  used  to  stand  for  a  model  Junior  superin- 
tendent.  It  is  not  necessarily  true  that  the  superintendent  be  of  this  sex.  but 
in  this  day  of  the  church  membership  where  the  women  outnumber  the  men  i6 
to  I,  it  is  very  probable  the  Junior  superintendent  will  be  a  young  woman.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  she  can  secure  much  help  from  the  young  men,  for  manly  in- 
fluence is  most  needful  to  a  successful  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 

In  the  cultivation  of  a  model  superintendent,  communication  with  the  State 
Junior  superintendent  should  be  kept  up  constantly.  Christian  Endeavor 
conventions,  with  their  inspiration,  new  ideas  and  methods  of  work,  greatly 
assist.  A  prayerful  study  of  these  methods  helps  the  superintendent  to  decide 
what  can  be  used  in  her  especial  Junior  Society.  The  aid  of  the  senior  society 
is  indispensable.  The  church  services  are  always  chief  assistants,  the  superin- 
tendens  advising  the  boys  and  girls  not  only  to  go  to  church,  but  to  sit  in  the 
church  pews  with  their  parents;  and  this  suggests  that  great  bugbear  roaming 
some  parts  of  the  world  in  the  shape  of  the  opinion  that  children  should  not 
be  allowed  to  join  the  Church.  I  feel  toward  that  opinion  as  the  baby  boy  did 
toward  the  big  dog  of  the  house  where  he  was  on  a  visit.  Having  a  dreadful 
fear  of  the  dog,  they  talked  to  him  until  the  coming  manly  pride  was  aroused 
in  him,  and  this  was  the  result.      One  day  while  alone  in  a  room  the  child  was 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  189 

startled  by  the  dog  coming  in.  Watching  the  child  from  the  next  room,  they 
say  him  start  for  a  chair,  remarking  aloud  to  himself,  "  I  'm  not  afraid  of  him.  I 
wish  he  was  n't  there,"  meantime  hastily  chmbing  upon  the  chair.  "  I  'm  not 
afraid  of  him.     I  'm  not  afraid  of  him.     I  wish  he  was  dead,  for  Jesus'  sake." 

We  need  not  be  afraid  of  that  opinion,  for  it  cannot  keep  the  children  out  of 
the  Church.  We  're  not  afraid  of  it,  but  we  wish  it  was  dead !  The  model  Junior 
superintendent  need  not  teach  the  destruction  of  this  idea.  Her  intelligent, 
well-trained  little  Christian  Juniors  are  living  arguments  in  favor  of  its 
annihilation. 

So  add  to  the  helps  mentioned,  belief  in  Junior  church  membership,  con- 
ferences with  the  pastor,  possession  of  every  scrap  of  literature  regarding 
Junior  work,  correspondence  with  workers  in  other  societies  regarding  Junior 
work,  correspondence  with  workers  in  other  States,  an  abiding  interest  in  the 
or2;anization  of  Mothers'  Societies,  good  cookery,  knowledge  of  games,  acare- 
fully-cared-for  body,  constant  communion  with  Christ.  These  helps  are  the 
scaffolding  which  God  provides  for  us  in  building  that  beautiful  character,  a 
model  Junior  superintendent. 

A  discussion  of  these  papers  then  took  place  and  many  present 
offered  suggestions  for  making  the  work  successful. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Atkinson,  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  then  addressed  the  meeting 
on  "  Some  Things  To  Avoid." 

Address  of  fir.  C.  J.  Atkinson,  Toronto,  Ont. 

Avoid  doing  all  the  work  yourself.  The  Juniors  will  learn  to  do  by  doing. 
You  plan,  they  will  carry  out ;  you  touch  the  button,  they  will  do  the  rest. 
Juniors  are  working  interrogation  points,  and  only  require  responsive  superin- 
tendents to  suggest  the  what  and  the  how.  Give  them  something  to  do  or  they 
will  soon  lose  interest.  Maintain  good  order  and  disciphne  by  occupying  sur- 
plus time  and  energy ;  remember  that  it  is  the  idle  hands  that  the  father  of  mis- 
chief finds  work  for;  it  is  the  business  of  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  to  preempt 
this  field.  Teach  the  Juniors  early  the  valuable  life  lesson  that  it  is  better  to 
try  to  do  something  and  fail  than  not  to  try  and  beautifully  succeed. 

Avoid  making  your  Junior  Society  your  society.  Don't  selfishly  monopolize 
all  the  pleasure  of  superintending.  Have  several  assistants,  say  one  to  look 
after  each  committee  in  the  society,  and  place  responsibilities  upon  them.  You 
will  thus  educate  superintendents  for  other  societies  and  insure  the  future  of 
your  own.  If  a  Junior  Society  disbands  it  will  be  found,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  —  if  that  number  can  be  found  —  that  it  is  due  to  lack  of  a  competent  super- 
intendent. In  training  superintendents  you  are  not  working  a  question  in  addi- 
tion ;  it  is  one  in  multiplication. 

Avoid  increasing  members  at  the  expense  of  thoroughness.  Strive  for  qual- 
ity, not  quantity.  Hand-picked  fruit  keeps  much  better  than  windfalls.  Make 
pledge-taking  a  serious  business  and  the  consecration  meeting  a  solemn  hour. 
Deal  personally  and  privately  with  every  applicant  for  active  membership. 
If  possible  have  them  visit  you  at  your  home,  and  with  open  Bible  and  bended 
knee  and  the  Spirit's  guidance,  draw  the  lambs  gently  into  the  fold.  The  bless- 
ing will  be  mutual,  and  the  superintendent  and  Junior  will  be  intimate,  confid- 
ing friends  ever  after.  Those  little  conferences  will  become  the  greatest  joy  of 
your  life,  the  memory  of  which  will  dispel  the  Httle  irritations  and  add  to  your 
zeal  in  the  work. 

Avoid  ruts.  Variety  is  required  not  only  to  make  the  weekly  meetings  attrac- 
tive, but  to  maintain  interest  in  the  work  of  the  committees.  If  superintendent 
and  assistants  lack  original  ideas  here  is  a  receipt  for  making  a  good  substitute : 
get  all  the  text-books,  periodicals,  and  helps  on  Junior  work  that  are  within 
reach ;  have  your  note-book  at  every  convention  where  Junior  work  is  discussed; 
go  with  it  yourself,  if  possible;  swap  plans  with  every  Junior  worker  you  meet. 
Squeeze  the  best  out  of  all  these,  sweeten  to  the  local  taste,  and  serve  in  small 
quantities.    Jam  always  takes  well  with  Juniors. 


190  Official  Report  of  the 

Avoid  sentimental  gush,  a  long-faced  demeanor,  and  the  calling  of  Juniors 
"  dear  little  children."  Teach  a  real,  matter-of-fact  religion  that  Juniors  can  prac- 
tise in  the  school-room,  running  messages,  riding  a  bicycle,  or  playing  baseball. 
If  we  must  have  long  faces,  let  tliem  be  long  crossways.  Treat  your  Juniors 
not  as  prudes  and  prims,  but  as  healthy,  fun-loving  girls  and  boys.  Boys?  Yes, 
boys;  and  you  can  have  boys  from  twelve  to  sixteen  years  of  age  in  your  society 
in  as  great  numbers  as  the  girls,  if  you  recognize  that  they  must  have  exercise 
sometimes  or  something  will  break,  and  tliat  they  must  have  fun  sometimes  or 
something  will  burst,  and  that  they  aspire  above  everything  to  be  considered 
manly  while  in  their  teens. 

In  conclusion,  don't  use  as  many  don'ts  as  I  have  this  morning  in  the  next 
six  months,  but  substitute  instead  the  verb  active,  "  do."  This  subject  was  not 
of  my  choosing. 

Miss  Nettie  E.  Harrington,  of  Janesville,  Wis.,  read  a  paper  on 
"  The  Relation  of  the  Juniors  to  the  Older  Society."  We  regret  Miss 
Harrington's  manuscript  was  not  preserved. 

Miss  Kate  H.  Haus,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  took  charge  of  the  open 
parliament,  and  conducted  a  discussion  on  "  How  To  Keep  the  Juniors 
Interested."  The  parliament  proved  to  be  a  lively  and  instructive  fea- 
ture of  the  programme. 

Miss  Lottie  E.  Wiggins,  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  interested  her  auditors  by 
an  address  on  "  The  Relation  Between  the  Parents  and  the  Juniors." 

Address  of  fliss  Lottie  E.  Wiggins,  Toronto,  Ont. 

We  have  talked  much  about  the  relation  of  children  to  parents,  but  very 
little  about  the  relation  of  parents  to  children.  How  strange  that  we  have 
overlooked  the  divine  command  to  "become  as  little  children,"  and  have 
always  been  holding  up  adults  as  the  examples  for  children  to  follow  !  Which 
of  us  consider  the  conventionalized,  warped,  distorted,  indirect,  half-fair, 
untrusting  mode  of  thinking  of  the  adult  a  good  substitute  for  the  spontaneous, 
genuine,  direct,  just,  and  trusting  mode  peculiar  and  essential  to  childhood? 

Junior  workers  are  not  competing  with  parents  in  training  the  Juniors,  but 
co-operating.  We  also  believe  that  the  best  work  for  the  juniors  can  not  be 
done  without  home  co-operation.  Our  Juniors  are  leading  their  parents 
deeper  spirituality,  and  thus  the  Junior  Society  is  fulfilling  the  predictions  of 
our  Lord  regarding  the  foremost  age  of  all  history, —  "A  little  child  shall  lead 
them."  We,  therefore,  organize  a  Parents'  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  not 
enlisting  the  mothers  alone,  but  the  fathers  also.  Too  long  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  home  has  been  left  to  the  mothers,  while  the  fathers  have  guarded 
our  larger  home,  the  nation.  Both  governments  have  signally  failed,  and  now 
we  learn  the  lesson  that  neither  home  nor  nation  is  well  governed  unless  there 
are  "  two  heads  in  council."  Parents  best  realize  their  responsibility  to  the 
Juniors  when  they  live  the  principles  they  desire  to  see  the  children  live. 

How  often  we  find  parents  lax  in  their  own  practices  in  honesty,  and  boast- 
ing before  the  children  of  some  sharp  trick  by  which  they  gained  advantage  in 
a  business  transaction  !  If  they  but  realized  that  it  is  the  little  leaks  that  sink 
the  ship,  they  would  be  more  careful  to  be  true  under  all  circumstances. 
Parents  should  be  so  true  that  when  the  Juniors  weigh  their  actions  in  the 
balance  they  shall  not  be  "  found  wanting." 

"  Child-nature  "  should  be  studied.  The  gardener  studies  his  plants  and 
knows  how  to  treat  each.  The  farmer  studies  his  fields  and  knows  what  best 
will  grow  in  every  field.  But  parents  think  all  children  alike,  recognize  no 
differences  in  character,  and  do  not  adapt  plans  to  develop  different  natures. _ 

Parents  should  possess  the  utmost  confidence  of  the  Juniors,  sympathize 
with  them  in  their  aims,  study  their  tastes,  encourage  their  development ; 
should  have  great  faith  in  the  children,  that,  though  mistakes  are  made,  they 
desire  to  do  the  right ;  should  not  make  promises  unless  certain  of  being  able 


Fifteenth  I>iteniational  Convention.  191 

to  fulfil  them  ;  should  not  bribe  children  to  be  good  by  promises  of  reward  and 
payment  for  every  service. 

Parents  should  think  more  about  the  physical  development  of  the  Juniors, — 
see  that  they  take  proper  exercise,  proper  food,  and  go  to  bed  early.  Some 
persons'  digestion  has  a  good  deal  to  do  with  their  religion.  Children's  tem- 
pers are  often  caused  by  too  much  pastry  and  sitting  up  till  midnight.  Make 
allowances  for  failures.  Let  the  children  down  as  easily  as  older  people.  Five- 
year-old  Flossie  said  to  her  mother  on  being  reproved,  ''When  it's  me,  you  say 
'  cross  ; '  when  it 's  you,  you  say  '  nervous.'  " 

Mothers  and  fathers  who  expect  their  children  to  be  angels  must  have  for- 
gotten their  ancestry.  As  far  as  possible  parents  should  co-operate  wilii  the 
superintendents  in  carrying  out  the  plans  of  the  Junior  Society.  The  Juniors 
are  encouraged  by  the  interest  of  their  parents,  as  well  as  the  parents  benefited 
by  the  Juniors'  work.  The  Parents'  Society  should  meet  at  least  once  a  month 
and  talk  over  the  work,  hear  the  Junior  superintendent's  monthly  report,  pray  for 
blessing  on  the  Juniors.  In  an  informal  way  parents  and  workers  may  talk 
over  the  work  with  mutual  benefit;  discuss  difficulties,  but  also  state  the  bless- 
ings and  benefits  of  Junior  work.  At  home  the  Juniors  may  be  more  easily  en- 
couraged to  read  tlie  l]ible  and  pray  every  day.  Parents  may  note  whether 
Christian  principles  are  lived  in  home  life,  in  school  life,  and  in  the  playground. 
Parents  should  not  only  pray  for  the  Juniors,  but  with  the  Juniors.  Many  a 
difficulty  between  parent  and  child  will  be  sweetly  reconciled  as,  together, 
hearts  are  lifted  to  the  Father  on  high.  By  this  mutual  sympathy  and  help  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  threefold  nature,  which  is  one  in  the  unity  of  the  spirit  and 
the  bonds  of  peace  —  husband,  wife,  and  child  —  shall  be  exalted,  our  family  al- 
tars will  mean  more,  and  over  the  homes  of  our  country  shall  be  written,  "  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord." 

Mr.  Thomas  Wainwright,  of  Chicago,  conducted  the  question  box, 
and  gave  his  opinion  of  various  ways  for  getting  along  with  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  societies. 

The  next  speaker's  topic  was  "  The  Pastor  and  the  Juniors." 

Address  of  Rev.  Peter  Ainslie,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Some  time  ago  I  stood  by  a  naval  constructor  as  he  directed  the  laying  of 
the  keel  of  a  great  vessel.  He  watched  it  daily,  and,  after  many  months,  it  was 
successfully  launched,  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  fioating  over  its  newly  chris- 
tened prow.  In  these  days  when  childhood  is  largely,  and  in  some  cases  en- 
tirely, given  over  to  the  Church  for  religious  instruction,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
pastor  has  a  magnificent  opportunity  of  aiding  more  than  ever  before  in  tiie 
building  of  the  child-thought  and  the  child-life.  Without  discussing  tlic  hold 
that  the  home  is  losing  upon  childhood,  certainly  this  condition  has  tlirust  upon 
the  pastor  a  new  and  large  responsibility.  It  compels  him  to  be  more  than 
ever  before  the  servant  of  the  child.  The  Junior  Society  meets  the  want  of 
forming  the  children  into  an  organization  to  bring  the  pastor  in  closer  touch 
with  them,  that  he  may  study  their  individual  lives  and  press  to  their  hearts  as 
near  as  possible  the  divine  mold.  In  fact,  this  is  his  business.  He  is  pre-emi- 
nently in  the  world  to  make  men  and  women  better;  but  since  it  is  easier  to 
plant  a  truth  in  a  child's  life  than  to  uproot  evil  or  disfigured  truth  in  a  mature 
life,  his  opportunity  and  responsibility  are  measureless.  It  is  his  as  never  before 
to  directly  influence  manhood  and  womanhood  and  make  a  safe  passage,  as  far 
as  in  him  lies,  in  the  launching  of  human  barks  upon  the  rough  and  pathless 
sea  of  life. 

Somebody  has  said  that  the  child  is  the  best  copy  of  Adam  before  he  tasted 
the  fruit.  At  any  rate,  it  is  the  flower  bursting  the  calyx  that  holds  the  child- 
blossom,  and  the  pastor's  prayers,  words,  and  life  should  combine  to  keep  fra- 
grant the  opening  flower.  He  should  pray  for  them  individually.  It  is 
easier  to  prevent  a  leakage  than,  after  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  to  attempt 
to  chink  a  weather-bitten  craft.     He  should  know  the  children  by  name.  "  How 


192  Official  Report  of  the 

do  you  do?'  and  "Good  morning,"  may  suit  men  and  women,  but  "How  do 
you  do,  Jim  ?  "  and  "  Good  morning,  Mary,"  is  the  only  salutation  that  will  suit 
boys  and  girls.  He  should  play  with  the  children.  You  can  not  touch  men 
unless  you  get  on  equality  with  them;  neither  can  you  reach  young  children 
unless  you  become  identified  with  them  in  their  toys,  games,  books,  and  sports. 
The  pastor  then  must  be  a  child,  or,  if  you  choose,  "  an  overgrown  boy,"  as 
somebody  once  called  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  After  all,  this  is  just  where  Jesus 
wanted  every  one  of  us  to  make  our  starting-point, —  at  childhood. 

The  crowd  in  attendance  on  the  service  was  so  great,  and  so  many 
could  not  be  accommodated  with  seats  in  the  church,  that  an  overflow 
meeting  was  arranged  and  held  in  the  lecture-room,  speakers  from  the 
main  meeting  going  to  the  overflow^  meeting  and  repeating  their 
addresses,  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Stewart,  D.D.,  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  presiding. 

During  the  service  Rev.  Mr.  Lamb,  of  Maine,  sang  solos  and  capti- 
vated his  hearers. 

Mrs.  Francis  E.  Clark  was  present  at  the  meeting,  and,  although  not 
engaged  to  take  a  part  in  the  service,  was  called  upon  and  was  given  a 
warm  reception  by  the  audience.  Mrs.  Clark  spoke  of  methods  for 
interesting  young  people  in  the  Junior  Society,  and  believed  there  was 
no  rule  that  could  be  adopted  as  applying  to  all  societies. 

The  meeting  was  closed  with  prayer  by  the  presiding  officer,  Secre- 
tary Baer. 

FRIDAY    AFTERNOON. 


"  Committee  "  Conferences  and  Advance  Lines  of  Work. 

"  To  the  work,"  said  the  score  of  practical  conferences  along  special 
lines  of  Christian  Endeavor  work,  held  Friday  afternoon.  The  earnest- 
ness of  the  delegates  and  the  definiteness  of  the  discussions  gave  these 
meetings  a  character  that  will  be  impressed  on  thousands  of  societies 
in  months  to  come.  "Advance,  Endeavor,"  was  the  key-word.  "  There 
remaineth  yet  very  much  land  to  be  possessed,"  was  the  prevailing  sen- 
timent, and  in  the  conferences  on  old  topics,  and  in  those  that  consid- 
ered the  later  enlargements,  the  desire  for  greater  things  was  clearly 
manifest.  Especially  cheering  was  the  gcod  attendance  and  great 
interest  at  the  meetings  where  were  considered  the  Intermediate,  Se- 
nior, Mothers',  and  Parents'  Societies,  the  work  for  life-savers,  the  Trav- 
ellers' Union,  the  Floating  Society,  and  the  information  committee. 

Corresponding  Secretaries'  Conference. 

This  conference  was  held  in  the  upper  room  of  the  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, Lutheran,  corner  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  Second  Street,  S.  E. 
There  was  a  large  number  of  corresponding  secretaries  present,  a  majority  of 
whom  took  part.  Mr.  J.  M.  Lucas,  of  Des  Moines,  lo.,  presided.  The  object 
of  the  conference  and  the  discussion  of  the  work  were  well  defined  and  out- 
lined by  the  chairman.  The  chairman  also  spoke  in  a  general  way  of  the  sub- 
ject, defining  the  duties  and  work  of  the  secretaries,  and  then  extended  an  invi- 
tation to  the  officers  present  to  take  an  active  part  in  debating  the  many  points 
of  interest  as  they  were  successfully  brought  out.  This  request  was  most  lib- 
erally responded  to. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  193 

It  was  the  evidence  of  nearly  all  present  that  the  reason  we  failed  to  receive 
prompt  and  accurate  reports  and  responses  from  thousands  of  our  secretaries  was 
the  fact  that  the  records  of  our  recording  secretaries  and  church  clerks  are  so 
poorly  kept  that  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  secure  the  information  desired. 
At  this  conference  it  was  fully  decided  that  it  was  a  most  important  duty  of  all 
corresponding  secretaries  to  help  to  inaugurate  a  glorious  reform  in  their  re- 
spective societies  and  churches  in  seeing  that  the  records  of  the  same  are  more 
systematically  kept.  Many  plans  and  methods  of  work  were  freely  discussed. 
This  was  a  very  enthusiastic,  interesting,  and  successful  conference.  One  very 
important  fact  was  brought  out  in  the  meeting;  namely,  corresponding  secre- 
taries should  be  prompt  in  answering  all  communications  sent  to  them  from 
proper  sources,  and  be  very  active  in  placing  in  the  waste-basket  all  forms  of 
advertising  matter  being  unduly  imposed  upon  our  Endeavor  Societies  which 
should  not  be  recognized  by  them.  It  was  proven  to  be  a  fact  that  many  un- 
scrupulous advertisers  are  trying  to  place  their  wares,  etc.,  in  the  hands  of  many 
of  the  Endeavorers  by  using  this  means  of  advertising  same. 

Junior  Superintendents'  Conference. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  conferences  of  the  Convention  was  the  meeting 
of  the  superintendents  of  the  Junior  Societies,  held  at  the  Wesley  M.  E.  Church. 
Miss  Cordelia  Jamison,  of  Beltzhoover,  Pa.,  the  State  superintendent  of  that 
State,  presided,  and  the  meeting  was  one  of  the  largest  of  the  afternoon,  the 
church  being  crowded  by  the  Junior  superintendents  and  many  others  inter- 
ested in  that  important  branch  of  Christian  Endeavor  work.  A  praise  meeting 
of  ten  minutes  preceded  the  business  meeting,  Mr.  Harry  G.  Kimball, of  Wash- 
ington, conducting  it.  Miss  Lottie  E.  Wiggins,  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  read  an  in- 
teresting paper  on  "Junior  Business  Meetings,"  Miss  Kate  Haus.  of  St.  Louis, 
following  with  a  valuable  paper  on  "Aids  to  Superintendents."  Mr.  Henry 
Small,  of  York,  Pa.,  gave  many  interesting  suggestions  in  an  address  on  "  Per- 
sonal Work." 

A  feature  of  the  meeting  was  a  short  talk  by  Miss  Elizabeth  W.  Olney,  of 
Providence,  R.  L,  her  subject  being  "  Bands  of  Mercy." 

Mr.  J.  A.  Shannon,  of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  illustrated  the  right  way  and  the 
wrong  way  of  teaching  the  Bible  in  a  very  interesting  story,  and  for  several 
minutes  Mr.  Thomas  Wainwright,  of  Chicago,  conducted  a  question  box, 
answering  many  inquiries  as  to  the  best  way  of  conducting  Junior  work.  The 
exercises  were  closed  by  the  audience  repeating  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge. 

Conference  of  Missionary  Superintendents. 

This  was  the  first  attempt  at  holding  a  conference  of  missionary  superinten- 
dents, and  though  the  attendance  was  not  large,  the  deep  interest  manifested 
proved  the  idea  a  good  one.  The  leader.  Rev.  Willis  S.  Hinman,  of  Columbia, 
Pa.,  opened  the  conference  with  prayer,  after  the  singing  of  two  or  three  mis- 
sionary songs.  In  a  few  earnest  words  he  reminded  those  present  that  in  many 
societies  the  missionary  work  depended  largely  on  the  guiding  influence  of  the 
superintendents.  Then  he  called  for  an  interchange  of  thought  in  answer  to 
the  twofold  question :  What  ha^'e  you  been  doing j  7vhat  do  you  propose  to  do  ? 

Miss  Frances  B.  Patterson,  superintendent  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  reported 
the  State  thoroughly  organized.  Courses  of  missionary  extension  lectures  had 
been  held  in  nearly  all  the  important  towns  and  cities,  often  under  difficulties, 
especially  in  the  country  districts,  where  speakers  were  sometimes  obliged  to 
drive  long  distances.  The  cost  had  been  entirely  met  by  the  fees.  She  had  sent 
out  a  great  deal  of  literature.  The  two-cents-a-week  plan  is  in  satisfactory 
operation  in  many  societies. 

The  superintendent  of  one  of  the  districts  in  Chicago  gave  an  interesting 
account  of  the  methods  used  in  his  district  to  keep  up  the  interest  of  the  mis- 
sionary committees.  District  meetings  are  held,  for  which  careful  programmes 
are  prepared  and  at  which  bright,  pointed  talks  on  methods  are  given  by  the 
best  speakers  obtainable. 


194  Official  Report  of  the 

Another  State  superintendent  told  of  work  done  at  the  State  convention.  A 
room  was  secured  and  an  elaborate  display  was  made  of  missionary  literature, 
pictures,  books,  maps,  and  curios.  Several  student  volunteers  were  in  attend- 
ance constantly,  who  made  it  their  business  to  talk  missions  to  every  visitor, 
explaining  maps,  showing  curios,  and  distributing  literature. 

Mr.  Hinman  reported  nearly  every  county  in  Pennsylvania  organized,  and  all 
parts  of  the  State  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  State  superintendent  through  an 
efficient  corps  of  district  and  county  superintendents.  Missionary  extension 
lecture  courses  were  held  in  about  forty  towns  and  cities,  with  gratifying  re- 
sults. 

Then  followed  a  half-hour  of  informal  conversation  concerning  the  work, 
during  which  there  was  a  lively  exchange  of  questions  and  answers,  helpful 
suggestions,  and  bright  bits  of  experience. 

A  series  of  prayers  for  God's  blessing  on  the  work  of  missionary  superinten- 
dents, in  which  many  of  those  present  participated,  brought  the  conference  to 
a  close,  every  one  feeling  that  the  hour  and  a  half  had  been  spent  profitably. 

Local  Union  Officers'  Conference. 

The  centre  of  attraction  Friday  noon  for  the  officers  of  local  Christian 
Endeavor  Unions  was  St.  Paul's  English  Lutheran  Church.  A  conference  of 
local  union  officers  was  held  there,  with  Mr.  William  L.  Turner,  Jr.,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, Pa.,  as  chairman,  and  with  union  officers  from  every  section  of  the 
country,  from  Maine  to  Texas,  and  from  Washington  to  Florida,  in  attendance. 

A  song  service  followed  by  prayer  opened  the  meeting,  and  then  the  presid- 
ing officer  announced  that  the  general  subject  to  be  discussed  was,  "  How  Can 
We  Best  Further  the  Interests  of  Our  Local  Unions.?"  After  several  had 
talked  on  that  topic,  opinions  were  given  on  how  best  to  conduct  the  union  of 
societies,  and  an  explanation  of  the  idea  of  city  unions  was  made. 

The  union  of  widely  separated  country  societies  occupied  attention  for  some 
little  time,  and  later  it  was  agreed  that  a  large  attendance  at  quarterly  union 
meetings  might  be  secured  by  the  liberal  use  of  printer's  ink,  by  following  good 
programmes,  and  by  uniformity  as  to  time.  Among  others,  the  presiding  officer 
asked  the  question,"  What  do  you  expect  of  your  lookout  committees.?"  and 
many  interesting  and  instructive  answers  were  made  by  the  delegates. 

"  Where  did  you  get  your  form  of  organization  .?  "  was  another  question  put 
to  the  meeting.  The  foregoing  is  a  sample  of  what  was  done  at  the  gathering, 
which  was  in  session  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  There  is  no  doubt  that  when 
they  returned  home  their  respective  societies  profited  to  a  very  great  extent 
from  the  exchange  of  views  between  the  officers  of  the  local  unions  at  Wash- 
ington, '96. 

District  Secretaries'  Conference. 

Secretaries  are  always  industrious  persons,  no  matter  what  organization  they 
belong  to,  but  the  duties  of  district  secretaries  of  Christian  Endeavor  Unions 
are  manifold  and  seemingly  endless.  A  small  but  interesting  conference  of 
these  officials  was  held  at  the  First  Baptist  Church,  with  Miss  Martha  E.  Race, 
secretary  of  the  Florida  Endeavor  Union,  presiding.  The  first  topic  brought 
up  for  discussion  was  that  of  "  The  District  Secretary."  This  and  each  suc- 
ceeding topic  was  subdivided,  any  person  present  volunteering  his  or  her  views 
on  the  subject.  Some  of  these  opinions  showed  much  serious  study,  but  all 
concurred  in  thinking  that  at  least  three  requisites  were  indispensable  in  a  dis- 
trict secretary  ;  namely,  that  he  should  be  "  business-like,"  "  energetic,"  and 
"open-hearted." 

District  secretaries  have,  of  course,  multifarious  correspondence,  and  sim- 
ilar heavy  work,  but  the  local  secretaries  are  nearly  as  busy,  and  have  in  addi- 
tion many  duties  that  the  others  have  not.  Under  this  head  a  world  of  work, 
much  of  it  not  named  in  the  category  of  ordinary  secretaries,  was  brought  up 
by  those  present.  One  delegate  expressed  in  a  nutshell  a  quality  that  is 
wanted  in  everybody  as  well  as  secretaries, —  more  "grit,"  less  "  quit." 


Fifteenth  Litcrnational  Convention.  195 

Sentiments  such  as  these  about  filled  up  the  afternoon,  though  time  was 
found  near  the  close  to  develop  old  methods  and  discuss  new  methods  of  work. 

State  and  Provincial  Officers'  Conference. 

The  conference  of  the  State  and  Provincial  officers,  which  was  held  at  the 
Sixth  Presbyterian  Church,  Sixth  and  D  Streets,  S.  W.,  was  one  of  the  most 
important  meetings  conducted.  Judge  L.  J.  Kirkpatrick,  of  Kokomo,  Ind., 
president  of  the  Indiana  State  Union,  presided.  After  a  short  welcome  address 
by  the  chairman,  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  O.  W.  Stewart,  president  of  the 
Illinois  Union.  Music  was  furnished  by  the  choir,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Sweet,  of  Colorado. 

The  first  subject  offered  by  the  chairman  for  discussion  was  "  The  Grouping 
of  State  Conventions  for  the  Purpose  of  Enabling  Speakers  To  Attend  Conven- 
tions of  Different  States  with  Less  Expense  to  the  State."  The  subject  was  freely 
discussed.  It  was  considered  feasible  to  group  adjacent  States,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  considering  such  matter  more  fully,  with 
power  to  consult  with  the  State  officers  and  make  such  groupings  as  might  be 
mutually  agreed  upon.  The  next  topic  discussed  was,  "The  Payment  of  Expen- 
ses of  State  Conventions."  It  was  unanimously  agreed  that  each  State  com- 
mittee should  see  that  all  expenses  of  the  convention  are  promptly  paid. 
Especial  emphasis  was  placed  upon  the  duty  of  such  committee  to  see  that  all 
the  incidental  expenses  of  speakers  are  paid,  as  well  as  car-fare,  that  the  amount 
tendered  should  fully  reimburse  the  speaker  for  all  expenses  incurred.  It  was 
also  urged  that  the  same  plan  of  payment  be  followed  by  the  district  secretaries 
of  the  several  States  in  holding  district  conventions.  "  The  Uses  and  Abuses  of 
State  Papers"  was  next  considered.  This  topic  called  forth  much  discussion. 
The  majority  present  thought  it  well  for  each  State  to  have  such  paper,  provided 
it  be  kept  under  the  management  of  the  State  committee  and  made  self-sustain- 
ing. It  was  considered  unwise  to  allow  a  private  individual  to  conduct  such 
paper  as  an  individual  enterprise  without  giving  the  State  committee  the  power 
to  direct  its  policy  and  to  know  at  all  times  the  character  of  the  articlts  pub- 
lished. The  enterprise  in  many  States  has  proved  a  financial  failure,  and  great 
care  was  urged  in  providing  for  its  support  by  advertisements  and  circulation. 
"  How  To  Raise  Money  for  State  Work  "  was  the  last  topic  presented  by  the 
chairman.  The  plan  which  has  proved  most  successful  in  many  States  is  for 
the  treasurer  to  send  his  call  for  pledges  to  each  society  prior  to  the  convention, 
requesting  the  society  to  send  in  the  pledge  by  the  time  the  convention  convenes; 
also,  to  have  subscription  blanks  and  envelopes  distributed  through  the  conven- 
tion hall,  so  subscriptions  may  be  made  during  the  convention.  Mr.  M.  M. 
Shand,  of  Washington,  acted  as  secretary  of  the  conference. 

Lookout  Committee  Conference. 

The  Lookout  Committee  Conference  was  held  in  the  McKendree  Methodist 
Church,  with  quite  a  large  attendance  of  Endeavorers  from  almost  every  State 
in  the  Union.  The  lookout  committee  is  an  important  committee  of  the  Society, 
as  its  duty  consists  chiefly  in  bringing  in  new  members  and  keeping  a  sharp 
lookout  ori  the  old  members  to  see  that  they  do  not  neglect  their  duties. 

Mr.  Guy  W.  Campbell,  of  San  Jose,  Cal.,  was  chairman  of  the  conference. 
In  opening  he  spoke  quite  earnestly  of  the  importance  of  the  work  of  the  com- 
mittee, which  he  declared  to  be  quite  as  essential  a  part  of  the  Society  as  any 
other  committee.  Some  members,  he  said,  were  inclined  to  be  neglectful  of 
their  duties  as  Christian  Endeavorers.  and  it  thus  became  necessary  for  some 
one  to  remind  them  of  their  backwardness  and  impress  upon  them  the  neces- 
sity for  more  earnest  consecration  to  the  cause.  This  it  was  the  lookout  com- 
mittee's function  to  perform,  and  the  spiritual  success  of  the  Society  depends 
largely  upon  the  efficient  and  conscientious  manner  in  which  their  duties  were 
performed. 

In  the  open  parliament  following  Chairman  Campbell's  remarks  quite  a 
number  of  practical  suggestions  were  made  as  to  the  best  manner  in  which  this 


196 


Official  Report  of  tUe 


work  may  be  performed.  Above  all  things  else,  the  members  were  most  ear- 
nestly urged  always  to  observe  the  tenets  of  the  pledge,  and  not  to  substitute  in 
its  stead  any  of  their  ideas  as  to  the  best  policy  for  the  members  of  their 
society  to  pursue  in  cases  in  which  special  legislation  seemed  to  be  necessary. 
Mr.  Campbell  suggested  the  following  outline  :  — 


LOOKOUT   COMMITTEE. 


fBring  in  new  members. 


fWho  to  secure. 
I  How  to  get  them. 
-i  What  is  to  be  required  of  them } 

I  How  can  we  insure   faithfulness  and  guard  against 
[_    careless,  indifferent,  and  inefficient  members.'' 

T„<-  „.j„.-)-;^„  ^f  r,<^,„  .,,o,>,    f  Method  of  receiving  new  members  by  the  coww/zV/^^. 
Introduction  of  new  mem- I  ^^^^  introduced  to  the  society, 
bers  to  work.  \yiovi  interested  and  enlisted  in  the  work. 

f  What  methods  are  employed  to  determine  who  are 
DUTIES.  -{  Affectionately    look   after  |      negligent? 

and  reclaim  any  that  are  J  What  course  pursued  with  negligent  members  ? 
indifferent   to    duties  as  |  Shall  we  e.xpel  .^ 


outlined  in  pledge. 


(^Sundry  duties. 


What  is  being  done  to  maintain  the  spiritual  life  of 
society  and  membership.? 


{.  Meetings. 
Committee  duties  \  Reports  —  Blank 


reports      of 


■j  i\epui  lb  —  uitiiitv 

(      United  Society. 

1  Duties  to  pastor. 
Duties  to  church. 
Duties  to    society  —  Society  in  general — Loyalty  — 
Defence. 
Special  duties  toward  associate  members. 


Prayer=neeting  Committee  Conference. 

One  of  the  most  largely  attended  of  the  committee  conferences  was  that  of 
the  prayer-meeting  committees  at  the  North  Presbyterian  Church.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  important  committees  of  the  Society,  and  the  conference  brought 
together  many  of  the  best  workers  in  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Grotthouse,  of  Dallas,  Tex.,  was  the  leader  of  the  conference.  He 
kept  things  moving  right  merrily,  allowing  no  time  to  be  lost,  and  gave  all  a 
chance  to  tell  about  the  methods  that  had  been  successfully  adopted  in  their 
particular  societies. 

First,  there  was  a  song  service,  followed  by  a  series  of  sentence  prayers  for 
the  work  of  the  prayer-meeting  committees. 

The  first  question  discussed  was,  "What  is  the  ideal  prayer  meeting?'" 
These  were  some  of  the  definitions  of  an  ideal  prayer  meeting  in  the  opinions 
of  the  various  Endeavorers :  "A  place  where  we  get  the  blessing  of  God;" 
"  A  meeting  led  by  anybody,  taken  part  in  by  everybody,  monopolized  by  no- 
body, and  in  which  everybody  is  somebody;"  "A  place  where  Christians  are 
made  joyful;"  "  Not  the  battle-ground,  but  just  the  place  where  the  canteens 
are  filled;  "  "  The  place  where  we  bring  heaven  to  earth  and  we  get  God  into 
our  hearts  ;  "  "A  place  in  which  we  wait  on  the  Lord  for  a  blessing." 

The  leader  called  attention  to  the  valuable  help  he  had  received  from 
"Prayer-Meeting  Methods,"  by  Amos  R.  Wells.  He  said  that  if  any  one 
bought  a  copy  and  found  it  an  unprofitable  investment,  to  send  him  the  bill  and 
he  would  send  checks  on  his  bank-account  in  heaven. 

A  lengthy  discussion  on  topics  connected  with  making  a  prayer  meeting  a 
success  followed.  The  best  music  to  be  used,  which  a  majority  of  the  Endeav- 
orers present  thought  was  the  old  gospel  hymns  ;  the  most  profitable  manner 
in  which  to  conduct  the  prayer  meeting  ;  the  most  desirable  manner  in  which  to 
select  leaders;  —  these  and  kindred  subjects  of  interest  to  the  members  of  the 
prayer-meeting  committees  were  thoroughly  discussed  by  the  Endeavorers  and 
many  practical  ideas  brought  out,  which  the  delegates  eagerly  jotted  down  in 
their  note-books  to  carry  back  to  their  home  societies  for  the  benefit  of  their 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  197 

fellow  workers  who  were  unable  to  attend  the  Convention  and  hear  the  talks 
themselves. 

In  regard  to  the  most  profitable  manner  in  which  to  conduct  the  prayer 
meeting,  the  majority  of  sentiment  was  in  favor  of  allowing  the  appointed 
leaders  to  carry  it  on  in  their  own  way,  but  it  was  suggested  that  it  was  not 
well  to  have  too  much  prayer,  too  much  talking,  or  too  much  singing.  It  was 
said  tliese  features  can  be  used  to  better  advantage  if  there  is  a  proportionate 
quantity  of  each. 

The  best  method  of  selecting  leaders  for  the  meetings  was  said  to  be  to  so 
arrange  matters  that  each  member  would  have  the  opportunity  of  conducting  a 
meeting  as  often  as  possible. 

The  conference  closed  with  a  number  of  brief  prayers  for  the  blessing  of 
God  to  rest  upon  the  labors  of  the  prayer-meeting  committees. 

Social  Committee  Conference. 

One  of  the  best  of  the  committee  conferences  was  that  of  the  social  com- 
mittee, at  the  Church  of  the  Covenant.  The  programme  was  much  changed, 
quite  informal,  and  altogether  delightful.  Mr.  Raymond  R.  Frazier,  of  Madi- 
son, Wis.,  ably  conducted  the  meeting. 

The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  William  Patterson,  of  Toronto,  who  thoroughly 
captivated  his  hearers  by  an  informal  talk,  which  was  both  witty  and  full  of 
good  common  sense.  Mr.  Patterson  stated  that  some  men  can  be  reached 
through  their  intellectual  side,  some  from  their  physical  side,  some  from  their 
socialside.  "  I  hear  ministers  preaching  sometimes  on  the  topic,  '  Will  We  Know 
Each  Other  in  Heaven  1 '  "  said  Mr.  Patterson.  "  Now  it  seems  to  me  the  best 
way  to  be  sure  of  that  is  to  get  acquainted  on  earth  first.  Christ  never  refused 
an  invitation  to  asocial  gathering.  His  first  miracle  was  at  a  wedding  feast. 
I  think  the  social  committee's  work  is  the  most  important  of  all,  because  theirs 
is  the  duty  of  bringing  in  new  people."  In  concluding,  Mr.  Patterson  remarked, 
"  Some  folks  say  I  talk  like  a  Methodist,  others  say  I  look  like  a  priest,  and  I 
am  a  Presbyterian.  I  came  from  Scotland  some  200  years  ago,  but  more 
recently  from  Ireland  ;  I  live  across  the  line,  but  while  1  'm  here  I  am  trying  to 
be  an  American.  I  hope  this  rambling  talk  may  help  to  break  the  ice."  And 
it  did. 

Following  this  there  was  a  general  discussion,  in  which  many  original  ideas 
were  brought  out,  and  which  must  have  proved  helpful  to  all. 

Rev.  Henry  Faville,  of  Lacrosse,  Wis.,  then  spoke  on  the  need  of  getting 
young  men  in  the  cities  without  any  social  opportunities  into  the  societies.  "  I 
was  announced  to  speak  on  money-raising  by  social  committees.  I  shall  not. 
I  am  not  in  the  money  business  —  I  am  in  the  young  man  business,"  the  speaker 
concluded. 

After  another  general  discussion,  the  meeting  closed. 

Information  and  Press  Committee  Conference. 

The  information  and  press  committees  met  at  Concordia  Church,  where 
under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Wm.  T.  Ellis,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  questions  on  the 
best  methods  for  disseminating  Christian  Endeavor  news  were  discussed.  Mr. 
Ellis  advised  the  societies  to  divide  up  a  city  into  sections,  and  to  have  some 
one  attend  to  supplying  the  secular  and  religious  papers  with  news  concerning 
the  work  of  the  organization  which  it  would  be  beneficial  to  the  work  to  have 
spread  abroad.  He  advised  the  committeemen  to  avoid  furnishing  the  papers 
with  trifling  matters,  and  thought  it  would  be  well  to  have  Endeavorers  every- 
where look  for  and  urge  the  newspapers  to  furnish  the  news  of  their  societies 
on  which  they  wished  to  be  informed. 

Sunday=ScliooI  Committee  Conference. 

The  Calvary  Baptist  model  Sunday-school  building  —  one  of  the  best  and 
most  thoroughly   equipped  in  the   world  —  was  the  scene  of  a  practical  and 


198 


Official  Repoi't  of  the 


intensely  spirited  conference.  Of  the  many  Endeavorers  present  were  numer- 
ous pastors,  Sunday-school  and  primary  superintendents,  and  teachers.  Mr.  J. 
L.  Dixon,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  was  chairman. 

Inasmuch  as  not  all  of  our  young  people  are  found  at  the  Sunday-school  con- 
ventions, and  inasmuch  as  Endeavorers  are  always  anxious  for  the  best  in  what- 
ever they  attempt,  the  chairman  presented  at  the  outset  the  following  chart,  in 
which  was  emphasized  the  normal  and  home  departments  :  — 


O 

Z 

"£ 

o 

1— 1 

H 

^ 

H 

1— 1 

H 

C/3 

n 

o 

H-1 

X 

< 

u 

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C/J 

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H 

Q 

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r) 

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Q 

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m 

o 

< 

z 

>A 

o 

o 

H 

o 

< 

K 

N 

u 

^ 

C/2 

< 

< 

o 

Teachers'  Sec. 


Q 


J3 
2 

General  Sec. 

Correspondence 

I 

Neighborhood 

ffi 

Scattered 

Tea.  Meeting. 

_^ 

Reserve  Class 

g 
O 

Senior 

2 

Junior 

Congregational 

Women's  Bible 

2"  ■" 

Men's  Bible 

Young  Men's 

Young  Women's 

Senior 

vi.2 

Middle 

m   ID 

< 

Junior 

"* 

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Q 

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Advanced 

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Primary 

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<  Ou, 

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FiftcentJi  Intcriiational  Convention. 


199 


The  question  was  then  asked,  "  What  can  Christian  Endeavor  do  in  helping 
to  bring  about  this  ideal,  so  much  desired  in  principle  at  least,  in  all  of  our 
churches?"  Rev.  Chas.  Roads,  of  Philadelphia,  ex-president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Union,  and  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Executive  Sunday-school 
committee,  made  answer  in  the  following: — 

THE  SABBATH  SCHOOL  AND  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR. 

MUTUALLY   HELPFUL. 
TO   BECOME   ONE   AND   INSEPARABLE. 


THE  SABBATH   SCHOOL 
STANDS  FOR 

1.  Systematic  Bible  study. 

2.  denominational   Ciiristian 

truth. 

3.  World-wide    organization 

for  lessons  and  missions. 

4.  Training  to  teach  the  Gos- 

pel. 

5.  Soul-winning. 


CHRISTIAN    ENDEAVOR 
STANDS  FOR 

Pledged   all-comprehensive 

Christlike  work. 
Interdenominationalfellow- 

ship. 
Spiritual  power. 
Training  in  service. 
Enthusiasm. 


Let  thetn  clasp  hands. 


CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR  IN  DETAILED  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  WORK 


Secures 

Does 

Fills 

New 

Home 

Normal 

Scholars. 

Dept.  Work. 

Classes. 

Is  loyal 
To  Supt. 
And  Pastor. 


Creates  C.  E. 

Atmosphere 

In  the  Sunday  school. 


It  was  designed  that  the  conference  proper  should  divide  its  time  in  the 
consideration  of  two  phases  of  the  Sunday-school  committee  work:  what  can 
Christian  Endeavor,  and  thus  the  Sunday-school  committee,  do  in  helping  the 
Sunday  school,  first,  in  what  might  be  termed  the  more  untried  ways,  —  under 
which  were  classed  the  normal  and  home  department  work;  and,  second,  in  the 
somewhat  well-beaten  paths,  —  as  visitation,  issuing  invitations,  and  welcoming 
strangers  to  the  Sunday  school.?  Owing,  however,  to  the  discussion  aroused 
over  the  first  topic,  which  at  times  was  not  a  little  vigorous,  and  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  Sunday-school  committee  requires  wise  tact 
and  the  thoroughly  Christlike  spirit  in  order  to  make  to-day  any  helpful  effort 
possible,  the  principal  thought  of  the  conference  centred  about  the  normal 
department. 

Mr.  Percy  H.  Bristow,  the  salaried  superintendent  of  the  Calvary  Sunday 
school,  opened  the  discussion  by  the  presentation  of  the  "  Bible  club"  as  in  opera- 
tion in  his  Sunday  school.  If  any  one  desires  to  know  how  to  conduct  a  suc- 
cessful teachers'  meeting  under  the  broader  name  "  Bible  club,"  he  will  obtain 
no  little  information  by  writing  Mr.  Bristow. 

Among  the  many  open  doors  for  usefulness  for  the  Sunday-school  commit- 
tee, as  briefly  indicated  under  the  second  division  of  the  topic,  were  mentioned, 
securing  new  scholars,  visitation  under  the  direction  of  the  Sunday-school 
superintendent,  organizing  Sunday  schools  in  the  outlying  districts,  conducting 
Bible  study  in  the  jails,  old  ladies'  homes,  almshouses,  etc. 

Temperance  Committee  Conference. 

A  small  but  earnest  company  of  workers  gathered  at  the  Temperance  Con- 
ference at  the  appointed  time  and  place.  Mr.  Geo.  W.  Coleman,  advertising 
manager  of  The  Golden  Rule,  Boston,  presided.  In  the  devotional  service, 
prominence  was  given  to  the  sentiments  of  brotherly  union  as  found  in  i  Peter 
iii.  S-17,"  Be  ye  all  of  one  mind,  having  compassion  one  of  another,  love  as 
brethren,  be  pitiful,  be  courteous:  not  rendering  evil  for  evil,  or  railing  for  rail- 
ing: but  contrariwise  blessing."  In  the  same  passage  is  found  also  an  injunc- 
tion to  fearlessness:  —  "  But  and  if  ye  suffer  for  righteousness' sake,  happy  are 
ye:  and  be  not  afraid  of  their  terror,  neither  be  troubled."  With  the  thought, 
therefore,  of  brotherly  union  and  fearlessness  against  a  common  enemy,  and 


200  Official  Report  of  the 

after  a  season  of  hearty  and  spontaneous  prayer,  the  company  settled  down  to 
a  serious  consideration  of  ways  and  means. 

Every  one  present  had  some  direct  connection  or  special  interest  in  some 
form  of  temperance  work,  and  for  two  hours  the  discussion  of  methods  went  on 
without  any  lagging  of  the  interest  and  without  any  loss  of  time.  Frequently 
several  men  were  on  their  feet  at  once  seeking  recognition  from  the  chair. 

In  this  brief  report  it  will  be  impossible  to  even  mention  any  of  the  very 
many  excellent  plans  and  devices  that  were  suggested  for  the  assistance  of 
workers  in  every  department.  A  good  twenty  minutes  was  taken  up  in  telling 
how  the  temperance  committee  in  the  local  society  does  its  work  among  the 
members  of  the  society  and  in  the  church  and  congregation.  The  most  effect- 
ive methods  of  using  temperance  literature  was  discussed  with  animation, 
together  with  pledge-signing  in  all  its  various  forms.  How  to  conduct  public 
meetings  in  the  interest  of  gospel  temperance  or  no  license  brought  out  a  great 
variety  of  suggestions.  "  Gospel  Temperance  in  the  Slums"  was  a  topic  not  at  all 
unfamiliar  to  this  company  of  young  people,  and  their  discussion  of  it  mani- 
fested a  practical,  personal  acquaintance  with  the  work.  And  so  on  to  the  end 
of  the  list,  one  department  after  another  of  the  work  was  taken  up,  and  the  dis- 
cussion almost  without  exception  was  directly  to  the  point  and  very  helpful. 

It  is  not  often  that  so  many  divisions  of  the  great  temperance  army  are  rep- 
resented in  one  meeting  as  vi^ere  gathered  together  at  this  conference.  There 
were  on  the  one  hand  the  very  beginners  in  the  work  and  on  the  other  the  well- 
known  Edward  Carson,  connected  with  one  of  the  national  temperance  societies, 
a  man  who  has  given  the  best  of  his  life  to  temperance  work,  and  who,  he  said, 
saw  a  greater  promise  for  the  future  of  the  cause  in  the  children  and  young 
people  than  in  any  other  direction. 

In  one  aisle  of  the  church  sat  a  man  who  had  been  rescued  from  the  drunk- 
ard's grave  by  the  kind  word  of  a  child;  in  another  sat  Vice-Chairman  Taylor 
of  the  Committee  of  "96,  who  brought  in  his  testimony  as  a  police  judge  charg- 
ing the  great  majority  of  cnmes  to  the  evil  of  strong  drink.  There  were  pres- 
ent and  took  active  part  leaders  in  the  W.  C.  T.  U.  Nearly  every  political 
party  was  represented  and  numerous  workers  in  special  fields.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  the  difference  of  opinions  in  such  a  company,  on  such  a  topic,  there  pre- 
vailed from  opening  to  close  a  beautiful  spirit  of  brotherly  union  in  which  there 
was  abundant  room  for  the  many  fearless  utterances  that  frequently  found 
expression  in  the  course  of  the  conference.  The  company  adjourned  acknowl- 
edging with  one  accord  that  it  had  been  good  to  be  there  and  that  much  help 
had  been  given  and  received. 

Good-Literature  Committee  Conference. 

The  conference  of  good-literature  committees  was  held  at  the  Nineteenth 
Street  Baptist  Church,  on  Friday  afternoon.  The  appointed  leader  was  Rev. 
W.  P.  Landers,  of  Middleton,  Mass. 

Mr.  Landers  conducted  the  conference  upon  the  plan  of  an  open  parliament, 
throwing  into  the  discussion  these  topics  :  "  What  Is  Good  Literature  .'"'  "  The 
Importance  of  it ;  "  "  The  Relation  of  Christian  Endeavor  to  Good  Literature ;  " 
"  Its  Publication;  "  "  Christian  Endeavor  Ink;"  "The  Circulation  of  Good 
Literature;  "  "  Sources  of  Information  Regarding  the  Work  of  This  Committee." 

A  large  number  participated  in  the  animated  debate  which  followed  the 
presentation  of  each  topic.  Experiences  and  successes  were  related.  Many 
suggestions  were  offered,  among  them  the  distribution  of  religious  tracts 
through  what  is  known  as  "silent  evangelism  ;  "  the  opening  of  reading-rooms 
in  churches  and  elsewhere  ;  the  distribution  of  suitable  literature  in  jails,  railway 
stations,  and  in  car-stables;  and  the  use  of  the  local  press  in  the  regular  and  con- 
tinued appearance  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  department. 

The  discussion  upon  what  constitutes  good  literature,  and  the  relation  of  the 
Christian  Endeavorers  to  it,  was  especially  helpful.  It  seemed  to  be  the  opinion 
of  those  present  that  "that  which  emphasized  and  distributed  the  good  in 
literature  "  can  be  called  good  literature.  The  relation  of  the  Endeavor  Soci- 
eties to  it  is  one  with  that  of  Christianity. 


Fifteenth  Liternatioiial  Cojivention.  201 

Christian  Citizenship  Committee  Conference. 

About  150  or  200  delegates  gathered  at  the  E  Street  Baptist  Church.  Mr. 
Frank  E.  Page,  of  Chicago,  presided.  Earnestness  and  enthusiasm  marked 
each  moment  of  the  meeting,  and  made  up  for  the  meagreness  of  the  attend- 
ance. Talks  of  three  or  five  minutes  opened  the  discussion,  and  were  given  by 
Revs.  M.  R.  Lyon  and  C.  S.  Bullock,  of  Chicago,  Hon.  Mr.  Nicholson,  of  Indiana, 
Hon.  H.  L.  Castle,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  several  others.  These  speakers  not 
only  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the  conference,  but  spoke  of  actual  good  work 
done,  of  work  planned,  and  of  practical  methods.  Little  time  was  given  to 
bewailing  the  condition  of  affairs.  Each  speech  had  the  true  ring  that  promises 
so  much  for  the  success  of  this  vigorous  forward  movement.  A  delightful  solo 
was  sung  by  a  local  Endeavorer,  and  then  the  discussion  became  general. 
Delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  country  reported  excellent  work.  Some  told  of 
failures,  some  of  perplexities  and  difficulties;  some  asked  for  advice  and  help, 
which  were  readily  given.  The  most  inspiring  feature  of  the  meeting  was  that 
all  work  done  or  planned  was  manifestly  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 
It  was  a  great  regret  that  Mr.  E.  D.  Wheelock,  the  assigned  leader  of  the  con- 
ference, was  unable  to  be  present. 

The  Brotherhood  Committee  Conference. 

The  brotherhood  committee  met  at  the  Western  Presbyterian  Church. 
Rev.  Rufus  W.  Miller,  the  founder  and  presidentof  the  Brotherhood  of  Andrew 
and  Philip,  presided,  and  in  opening  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  organization 
with  which  he  is  so  prominently  connected,  and  compared  its  work  with  the 
work  done  by  the  Christian  Endeavorers. 

Rev.  John  H.  Elliot,  rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  in  bringing  the 
greetings  of  the  Brotherhood  of  St.  Andrew  to  the  sister  association,  gave  a 
thoughtful  and  entertaining  address  on  the  idea  of  conducting  brotherhood  or- 
ganizations. 

The  meeting  was  thrown  into  the  form  of  a  conference  upon  brotherhood 
methods  in  Christian  Endeavor  work,  and  reports  were  received  from  various 
chapters. 

An  address  was  delivered  by  Rev.  John  Conkling  on  work  being  done  in 
Springfield,  Mass. 

Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  testified  to  the  benefit  of  the  brotherhood  at 
his  home  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  is  pastor  of  Bethany  Church. 

Rev.  Howard  Wilbur  Ennis  spoke  in  reference  to  the  brotherhood  work  in 
this  city,  and  the  meeting  was  brought  to  a  close  by  a  devotional  exercise  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  Ford  C.  Ottmann,  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

Missionary  Committee  Conference. 

The  Missionary  Committee  Conference  was  held  at  the  New  York  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  Rev.  Ira  Landrith,  managing  editor  of  The  Cumbcrtatid 
Presbyterian,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  presiding.  The  main  body  of  the  auditorium 
was  well  filled  with  chairmen  and  members  of  missionsfry  committees,  returned 
missionaries,  secretaries  of  mission  boards,  and  volunteer  missionaries.  The 
conference  was  designedly  wholly  informal  and  seemed  to  be  all  the  better  on 
that  account.  There  were  no  long  speeches.  In  the  two  hours  there  were 
more  speeches  than  minutes.  The  conference  was  grouped  about  what  the 
leader  called  three  good  "Endeavor  G's"  —  Grooving,  Giving,  Going.  The 
first  section  of  the  conference  was  devoted  to  answering  the  question,  "What 
is  your  society  doing  by  way  of  growing  in  missionary  information?"  The 
second  section  answered  the  question,  "  What  is  your  society  giving,  and  how?" 
and  the  third,  "  What  is  your  society  doing  by  way  of  going  to  the  regions  be- 
yond?" Miss  Rice  served  as  secretary  of  the  conference,  and  recorded  the 
fact,  among  many  others,  that  there  were  no  less  than  eleven  board  secretaries 
present,  perhaps  a  score  of  volunteers,  and  quite  as  many  who,  during  the  con- 
ference, announced  their  willingness  to  become  missionaries.    Among  the  plans 


202  Official  Report  of  the 

suggested  for  missionary  information  were  reading-circles,  written  examina- 
tions on  missionary  subjects,  talks  by  missionaries,  missionary  libraries,  maga- 
zines, etc.  Under  the  subject  of  giving,  the  haphazard  method  was  emphatically 
denounced,  systematic  and  proportionate  giving  being  in  high  favor.  The  en- 
tertainment for  revenue  only  appeared  to  have  but  one  friend  in  the  conference. 
A  Chicago  lady  said  that  in  her  society  the  members  who  thought  they  could 
not  give  two  cents  a  week  were  told  that  they  should  write  a  letter  to  the  Lord 
each  week,  putting  a  two-cent  stamp  on  the  envelope,  and  thereby  tell  him  they 
were  too  poor. 

The  singing  was  led  by  a  young  lady  and  was  in  all  respects  admirable. 
From  beginning  to  end  there  was  not  an  instant  of  intermission,  every 
moment  of  time  being  taken  up  by  song  or  speech  or  prayer. 

Mothers'  Societies'  Conference. 

The  Mothers'  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  held  their  conference  in  the 
Wesley  Chapel.  The  interest  of  this  meeting  was  largely  added  to  by  the 
kindness  of  two  of  the  Washington  Endeavorers,  who,  by  song  and  recitation, 
gave  pleasure  to  the  audience.  Miss  Knight  sang  a  solo  very  delightfully,  and 
Master  Ralph  Quinter  made  a  plea  for  the  Juniors.  Greetings  were  received 
from  Mrs.  A.  B.  Fellows,  of  Chicago,  also  the  assurance  from  Mrs.  Cleveland's 
secretary  that  matters  pertaining  to  the  right  training  of  little  ones  was  of  great 
interest  to  her,  and  that  were  she  in  Washington  she  would  extend  her  earnest 
wish  for  the  far-reaching  good  of  our  conference.  From  Miss  Willard,  who  is 
in  Ryegate,  England,  were  words  of  love  and  encouragement  to  the  mothers  in 
all  lands. 

It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  all  of  the  words  of  the  speakers  can  not 
be  scattered  broadcast  through  all  homes,  for  the  help  of  mothers  not  privileged 
to  listen  to  them.  Miss  LeBaron,  Junior  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Union, 
very  forcibly  impressed  her  hearers  of  the  absolute  need  of  the  mothers'  co- 
operation to  make  the  Junior  Society  the  kind  aimed  at.  The  Mothers'  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor  is  indispensable  to  the  leader  and  the  little  ones.  Mr. 
Rader,  of  San  Francisco,  made  all  feel  that  out  in  California  they  knew  how 
to  conduct  model  societies,  and  that  the  mothers  must  not  be  selfish,  but  gen- 
erous, and  open  the  ranks  and  admit  the  fathers  to  the  privileges  enjoyed  by 
their  calling  the  new  branch  the  Parents'  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  Glad 
will  be  the  day,  indeed,  when  in  perfect  atonement  father  and  mother  shall  seek 
the  highest  and  best  for  the  children  "  lent  them  of  the  Lord,"  both  delighting 
themselves  in  the  Lord,  and  he  fulfilling  his  promise  to  give  them  the  desire  of 
their  hearts,  the  salvation  of  these  dear  ones. 

Dr.  Robinson,  of  Englewood,  knew  whereof  he  spoke  when  he  told  from  a 
pastor's  standpoint  the  wide  range  of  usefulness  that  the  Mothers'  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  has.  He  cited  personal  instances  in  his  own  pastorate,  and 
showed  that  the  influence  was  possible  to  permeate  all  the  interests  of  the 
Church.  After  Dr.  Robinson  had  invoked  God's  especial  blessing  on  absent 
mothers,  and  on  all  interested  in  the  welfare  and  training  of  the  young,  the  Miz- 
pah  benediction  was  pronounced,  and  the  audience  quietly  dispersed. 

Intermediate  and  Senior  Societies'  Conference. 

The  conference  of  Senior  and  Intermediate  Societies  held  in  the  Kendall 
Baptist  Church  was  probably  one  of  the  most  interesting  meetings  held  in 
connection  with  tlie  Christian  Endeavor  Convention. 

Rev.  Charles  A.  Dickinson,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  was  the  first  speaker,  his  sub- 
ject being  "The  Chip-Basket."  During  his  talk  he  said,  "  The  Intermediate 
Society  arose  from  the  systems  of  divisions  in  large  societies.  Their  age  should 
be  from  eleven  or  twelve  to  seventeen  years,  and  is  very  important.  These 
original  young  people  are  now  old  enough  to  hold  ofiice  and  carry  on  the  work 
they  do.  Are  we  drifting  into  an  adult  society  or  are  we  to  keep  to  the  original 
purpose,"  he  asked,  "  that  of  saving  the  boys  and  girls  for  the  Church  of 
Christ  ?    From  the  age  of  seventeen  to  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  the   Endeav- 


Fiftee7ith  International  Convention.  203 

orers  are  ready  for  absorption  into  larger  church  life  and  should  enter  the  next 
society." 

He  then  suggested  five  classes  that  are  ready  for  this  older  society,  as  fol- 
lows :  (i)  the  young  people  who  find  it  impossible  to  go  to  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E. 
meetings  any  longer ;  (2)  those  who  are  so  absorbed  in  other  church  work  as 
to  have  no  energy  for  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.  work ;  (3)  those  who  are  affiliated  mem- 
bers; (4)  those  who  go  to  the  midweek  prayer  meeting  and  do  not  take  part, 
and  those  who  forget  to  go  to  the  prayer  meetings  ;  (5)  our  honorary  members. 
Rev.  W.  F.  McCauley,  of  Toledo,  O.,  had  for  his  subject  "  The  Membership," 
about  which  he  talked  entertainingly  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  or  more. 

Miss  Kate  Haus,  a  well-known  Junior  worker,  spoke  of  "  The  Intermediate 
Society's  Place  in  the  Church." 

In  addition  to  taking  charge  of  the  question  box,  Prof.  Amos  R.  Wells, 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  spoke  on  "  Organized  Systematic  Work." 

The  meeting  was  tn  charge  of  Mr.  Geo.  B.  Graff,  subscription  manager  of 
The  Golden  Rule,  of  Boston.  The  music  was  made  especially  interesting  by 
the  presence  of  Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster. 

Floating  Societies  of  Christian   Endeavor  Conference. 

An  earnest  company  of  workers  and  sailors  gathered  in  Peck  Memorial 
Church,  which  was  effectively  decorated.  Unique  blue  and  white  shields  bear- 
ing the  names  of  Floating  Societies  and  committees  were  suspended  overhead, 
and  a  big  anchor  from  the  navy-yard,  with  flags  everywhere,  gave  a  nau- 
tical welcome. 

Here  came  a  naval  chaplain,  an  ex-marine  just  home  from  a  cruiser,  a  big 
gunner's  mate  from  a  battleship,  and  deep-water  sailors  ;  a  sailor-boy's  mother, 
a  sister  who  said,  "  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  was  the  means  of  my  brother's 
conversion,"  and  workers  from  organized  work  in  Portland,  Me.,  Vineyard 
Haven,  Mass.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  New  York,  N.  Y.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  Nor- 
folk, Va. 

A  brief  praise  service  was  led  by  one  deep-water  sailor,  and  the  opening 
prayer  was  offered  by  another. 

In  opening  the  conference,  the  leader.  Miss  A.  P.  Jones,  of  Falmouth,  Mass., 
said  in  part:  — 

Floating  Christian  Endeavor  workers  must  never  lack  two  essential  quali- 
ties,— thorough  consecration  to  Christ  with  a  special  btirden  for  souls ^  which  is 
of  far  greater  importance  than  knowledge  of  sea  life  and  sailors  ;  and  thorough 
knowledge  of,  and  loyalty  to.  Christian  Endeavor  principles. 

Forty-seven  Floating  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor,  nineteen  on  shore, 
twenty-eight  on  ships,  and  eighteen  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  committees 
of  five  to  thirty  consecrated  young  men  and  women,  have  been  earnestly  serv- 
ing the  past  year,  while  work  has  been  broadened  and  strengthened,  with  many 
special  blessings  to  report,  far  more  encouraging  than  figures  would  indicate. 

To  organize  a  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  commxiiQe^Jlrst  Jiftd  your 
chairman.  Choose  one  who  is  deeply  in  earnest  for  the  souls  of  men,  especially 
seaman.     True  success  never  follows  forced  appoint/nent. 

Appoint  a  live  leader,  abounding  in  faith  and  resource,  for  chairman,  and 
one  who  has  made  a  success  in  other  lines  of  Christian  Endeavor.  This  chair- 
man by  a  tour  of  the  local  societies  will  obtain  a  picked  committee  of  evangel- 
istic Endeavorers. 

Avoid  haste  in  organizing  either  a  ship  or  shore  society,  unless  you  have 
many  strong  Christians  for  members,  but  be  led  of  the  Spirit  in  all  work. 

In  no  way  do  we  interfere  with  established  seamen's  work,  but  there  is  am- 
ple room  in  so  great  a  harvest.  In  districting  a  city  for  Floating  Christian  En- 
deavor work,  the  one  which  includes  established  seamen's  work  may  have  less 
assistance,  and  it  should  be  extended  as  desired. 

Best  results  follow  work  organ izedyfrj/  in  seaports.  If  a  State  superinten- 
dent \s  first  appointed  he  can  not  so  well  urge  the  work  on  seacoast  societies  as 
for  local  workers  to  feel  the  special  call  to  service. 


204  Official  Report  of  the 

Carefully  admit  members.  Quality  before  numbers.  Observe  courtesy  to  a 
society  on  a  ship  when  a  member  of  a  ship's  crew  desires  to  sign  the  pledge. 
Systematically  solicit  comfort-bags,  by  circular  letter,  and  enclosing  the  little 
story  "  Dan's  Comfort-Bag,"  with  description.  Examine  contents  carefully 
and  mark  Testaments. 

Even  inland  societies  can  have  a  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  committee  to 
help  seacoast  work.  Fly  a  blue  flag  with  white  C.  E.  monogram  or  the  C.  E. 
with  anchor  interlaced,  for  ship  or  shore  services  or  for  the  launch. 

Bits  of  news  come  daily  from  sea  and  land, — a  temptation  overcome,  work- 
ers encouraged,  a  great  need  met,  another  life  consecrated  fully  to  God's  service, 
and  all  showing  how  God  owns  and  blesses  Floating  Christian  Endeavor. 

One  member  already  on  the  mission  field  in  China  as  a  gospel  minister. 

Services  held  on  ships  rich  in  blessing. 

Five  Floating  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  report  22  sailors  uniting  with 
the  church  during  the  year. 

A  bluejacket  gives  $25  to  Red  Cross  for  Armenians. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  home  for  Seamen,  in  Nagasaki,  Japan,  founded  by 
the  U.  S.  S.  Charleston  Floating  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  bought  and 
opened. 

Pray  much,  plan  carefully,  work  quickly,  for  time  with  the  sailor  is  short,  re- 
membering the  prophesy  in  Isa.  xlii.  10  can  be  fulfilled  to-day,  and  that  "  All  — 
seamen  —  are  brethren." 

Greetings  were  sent  from  workers  and  sailors  in  distant  ports,  and  from  lands 
across  the  sea. 

Mr.  Lewis  W.  Destler,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  gave  a  clear,  enthusiastic  des- 
cription of  his  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  committee  and  their  work,  which 
is  so  planned  and  executed  that  already  ten  miles  of  their  city  water-front  is 
each  week  covered  by  Christian  Endeavor  visitation  and  services,  resulting 
beneficially  to  sailor  and  worker,  and  to  non-Christians  who  desire  to  assist. 

Another  Philadelphia  worker  told  of  visitation  and  services. 

An  open  conference  followed.  One  query,  if  Floating  Christian  Endeavor 
did  not  lead  a  sailor  away  from  church  or  Bethel,  to  a  society^  brought  forth  the 
earnest  assurance  that  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  serves  faithfully  under  the 
Christian  Endeavor  motto,  "  For  Christ  and  the  C/iurc/iy 

Mr.  Deans,  of  Norfolk,  reported  their  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  com- 
mittee work  among  the  men  in  the  navy-yard,  and  services  held  on  naval  ships. 

Portland,  Me.,  work  was  well  represented. 

Mrs.  Jane  Cassera,  New  York,  a  veteran  sailors'  missionary,  now  of  the  new 
Christian  Endeavor  Bethel,  told  of  her  work  among  ocean-steamship  men,  the 
trials  and  bravery  of  sailor  Christians,  and  testified  to  the  helpfulness  of  the 
Floating  Christian  Endeavor  Society. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  Kelton  cordially  extended  the  greetings  of  Woman's  Army  and 
Navy  League,  of  Washington,  which  has  so  kindly  and  practically  co-operated 
with  Floating  Christian  Endeavor  in  furnishing  organs  and  singing-books  to 
naval  ships,  and  for  use  of  workers  among  naval  men. 

With  more  earnest  consecration  for  soul-winning  and  service  the  coming 
year,  "  God  Be  With  You  "  was  sung,  and  "  Mizpah  "  closed  the  conference. 

Work  Among  The  Life-Savers. 

The  announcement  of  an  illustrated  lecture,  "  Christian  Endeavor  Among 
the  Life-Savers"  as  the  subject,  attracted  an  audience  to  the  Fourth  Presby- 
terian Church  that  jammed  the  large  auditorium  even  beyond  the  doors.  It 
was  an  immense  gathering,  and  in  spite  of  the  heat  earnest  attention  was  paid 
to  every  word  spoken. 

Rev.  J.  Lester  Wells,  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  was  the  lecturer,  and  he  called 
upon  Rev.  S.  Edward  Young,  chairman  of  the  international  committee  on  sea- 
work  of  the  Christian  Endeavor,  to  preside.  After  a  few  words  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Young,  the  fourth  annual  report  of  the  committee  was  read  by  Rev.  Mr.  Wells. 

Full  statistics  have  not  yet  been  gathered  on  the  work  for  life-savers,  but 


Fifteenth  International  Conventioii.  205 

from  the  United  States,  Dominion  of  Canada,  the  British  Islands,  and  Germany 
the  government  reports  have  been  received.  The  grand  total  for  these  four 
countries  alone  is  7,339.  Nearly  all  the  stations  in  the  United  States  have  been 
communicated  with  by  the  secretary,  and  up  to  date  about  half  have  reported. 
These  reports  reveal  the  fact  that  on  the  average  there  are  five  persons  to  each 
family.  In  the  life-saving  stations  there  are  eight  families  represented  in  a 
crew,  eleven  in  the  light-ship,  and  one  family  in  the  lighthouse;  thus  21,320 
souls  are  connected  with  the  life-saving  stations,  6,215  in  the  light-ships,  and 
34,025  with  lighthouses,  making  a  total  of  61,560  persons.  And  we  can  truth- 
fully report  over  100,000  souls  who  may  or  are  coming  in  touch  with  the  influ- 
ence of  Christian  Endeavorers  in  the  four  countries  mentioned. 

Wherever  feasible,  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  have  visited  the  stations  and 
held  thousands  of  appropriate  services  for  the  surfmen.  In  many  locations 
revivals  are  reported,  and  especially  along  the  New  Jersey  coast,  where  the 
work  for  life-savers  first  commenced,  many  from  the  crews  have  been  converted. 
The  work  of  these  heroes  is  well  known.  The  name  of  Maebelle  Mason,  only 
fifteen  years  old,  will  be  associated  with  Grace  Darling  in  deeds  of  heroism  as 
a  life-saver.  Her  father  was  keeper  of  the  Mamajuda  lighthouse,  Michigan, 
and  while  he  was  at  church  one  Sabbath  Day  a  signal  for  help  came  from  a 
passing  steamer  to  that  station.  Maebelle  quickly  sprang  into  the  life-boat, 
and,  with  great  fortitude,  pulled  the  oars  two  miles  to  a  drowning  man.  She 
drew  him  into  her  boat  half  dead,  and  brought  him  safely  to  the  island.  Well 
did  she  merit  the  gold  medal  (a  Maltese  cross)  presented  by  the  lake  masters 
of  Cleveland,  O.,  and  a  silver  medal  presented  by  the  government.  But 
these  are  only  samples  of  noble  characters  among  our  sisters  who  are  charged 
with  responsibility  in  the  lighthouses. 

The  world-round  representatives  of  the  work  in  life-saving  stations,  light- 
houses and  light-ships  can  clasp  hands  and  band  the  globe.  The  spirit  of  the 
Master,  like  an  electric  current,  has  gone  from  hand  to  hand  and  heart  to  heart 
in  the  progress  of  the  work. 

As  the  international  committee  enters  upon  the  fifth  year  of  our  work,  we 
would  turn  our  ears  to  the  future  and  strive  to  hear  the  voices  as  they  come 
floating  over  the  sea  from  life-saving  stations,  lighthouses,  and  life-ships  of  the 
world;  voices  that  call,  saying,  "Come  over  and  help  us."  '-Come  to  our 
stations  and  conduct  religious  services."  "  Come  and  cheer  us  in  our  lonely 
and  often  dangerous  tasks."  We  then  turn  to  hear  what  Christian  Endeavor 
has  to  say  in  answer,  and  the  response  is  :  "  Here  am  I.  Send  me."  Christian 
Endeavor  has  found  the  words  of  Jesus  true :  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

Next  followed  the  address  of  Mr.  Wells,  which  was  illustrated  by  stereopti- 
con  views  in  colors,  giving  a  graphic  description  of  the  life  and  work  of  the 
brave  men  who  man  the  life-saving  stations,  lighthouses  and  light-ships  of  the 
world,  and  what  Christian  Endeavor  can  do  and  is  doing  for  their  intellectual 
and  spiritual  good.  Portrayed  upon  a  large  canvas  screen  in  pleasing  succes- 
sion were  views  of  dangerous  coasts,  collisions  at  sea,  storms  upon  the  ocean, 
ill-fated  ships,  throwing  out  life-lines,  the  rescue  of  passengers,  and  other  heroic 
deeds.  In  connection  with  the  views,  Rev.  Mr.  Wells  made  a  running  explana- 
tory and  descriptive  talk,  which  added  greatly  to  the  pleasure  of  the  meeting. 
A  large  number  of  persons  who  had  been  uninformed  in  regard  to  this  impor- 
tant branch  of  Christian  Endeavor  work  undoubtedly  profited  to  a  great  extent 
by  the  lecture. 

Travellers'  Union  Conference. 

Evangelist  Ralph  Gillam,  of  Maiden,  Mass.,  was  leader  of  the  Travellers' 
Union  Conference,  at  the  Fifteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  While  the 
attendance  was  small,  there  were  several  travelling-men  present,  and  the  meet- 
ing, which  was  a  very  impressive  one,  resulted  beneficially.  A  service  of  song 
opened  the  meeting,  the  choir  of  female  voices  leading  in  the  singing  of  "  I  Am 
Trusting  in  Thee,  Lord  Jesus." 


206  Official  Report  of  the 

Miss  Carrie  Burrill,  president  of  the  society  of  the  Fifteenth  Street  Church, 
welcomed  the  visiting  Kndeavorers. 

After  Scriptural  reading  and  prayer  by  Mr.  George  W.  Brown  and  Mr. 
Henry  Lee,  and  a  solo  by  Miss  Amelia  Tillman,  the  Rev.  Gillam  opened  the 
conference  by  telling  his  hearers  that  nine  years  ago  he  was  a  travelling-sales- 
man, and  therefore  he  knew  something  of  the  life  of  these  men.  The  question 
now  is  how  to  reach  them.  He  spoke  of  the  many  great  temptations  to  which 
these  men  are  subjected,  and  said  that  this  organization  is  endeavoring  to  put 
them  in  a  position  to  have  them  resist  these  temptations  and  save  their 
souls. 

Mr.  H.  W.  Johnson,  a  travelling-salesman  for  a  Philadelphia  firm,  who  was 
present,  gave  his  experience,  and  suggested  a  means  of  helping  his  fellow  travel- 
lers. There  are  380,000  drummers,  most  of  them  between  twenty-five  and  thirty 
years  old.  "  They  are  the  flower  of  the  men,*'  he  said,  "  sharp  and  intelligent,  and 
if  they  constituted  a  drilled  army  they  would  be  invincible  in  battle.  But,"  he 
added,  "  I  am  sorry  to  say  there  are  but  few  of  them  who  have  knowledge  of 
their  God,"  and  he  said  he  was  glad  to  know  that  this  organization  is  making 
a  noble  effort  to  save  them.  He  told  of  a  plan  to  send  invitations  to  travelling- 
men  at  the  different  hotels  for  them  to  attend  service  on  Sunday,  and  he 
remembered  that  on  one  occasion  when  this  plan  was  practised,  more  hotel 
people  attended  church  than  had  ever  done  so  before. 

Mr.  George  W.  Brown  said  he  thought  this  was  one  of  the  best  movements 
he  had  ever  heard  of.  He  told  his  hearers  that  Christians  who  do  not  go  out 
in  the  byways  and  hedges,  and  to  the  hotels,  are  selfish.  "  Keep  your  Endeavor 
pledge,"  he  said,  "and  you  will  seek  to  save  every  one,  including  the  travelling- 
men,  and  when  the  end  shall  come  it  will  be  well  with  your  soul." 

Brief  addresses  were  made,  and  the  meeting  closed  with  a  service  of  song  and 
benediction  by  the  leader. 


FRIDAY  EVENING. 
Tent  Williston. 

For  the  first  time  during  the  Convention,  Tent  Williston  was  used 
Friday  evening  for  a  meeting-place.  It  was  no  small  task  to  put  up 
the  big  stretch  of  canvas  that  went  down  in  the  storm  of  Wednesday, 
but  a  big  force  of  workmen  was  put  at  it,  and  before  sunset  the  finish- 
ing touches  were  completed,  and  all  was  ready  at  last.  As  if  to  cele- 
brate the  occasion,  an  immense  congregation  gathered,  and  the  exer- 
cises were  marked  by  the  greatest  fervor  and  enthusiasm.  In  opening 
the  exercises  Secretary  Baer  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  energy  of  the 
Committee  of  '96  in  so  quickly  raising  the  tent. 

Mr.  Ira  D,  Sankey  was  to  have  led  the  meeting,  but  he  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  town  in  the  afternoon,  and  in  his  absence  Secretary 
Baer  conducted  the  service,  which,  like  those  in  the  other  tents,  was 
on  the  topic  "Saved  to  Serve."  The  opening  prayer  was  made  by 
Capt.  H.  B.  Shaw,  the  superintendent  of  the  seventh  district  of  the 
United  States  life-saving  service,  coast  of  Florida.  He  is  an  active 
member  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  Mr.  P.  P.  Bilhorn,  by 
special  request,  gave  as  a  solo  "  Sweet  Peace." 

The  first  speaker  of  the  evening  was  Rev.  S.  Edward  Young,  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  work  among  the  life-savers. 
Mr.  Young  is  a  young  man   of  pleasing  personality  and  address,  and 


FiftccntJi  Intcrnatiojial  Convention.  207 

his  talk  presented  an  eloquent  word-picture  of  the  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  brave  men  who  risk  their  lives  to  save  others. 

After  Mr.  Young's  address  the  big  chorus  and  the  audience  sang  the 
stirring  hymn,  "  Throw  Out  the  Life-Line."  "  Sing  it  as  you  never  did 
before,"  said  Mr.  Bilhorn.  And  they  did.  Mr.  Young's  address  had 
worked  his  hearers  up  to  a  high  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  and  such  an  appro- 
priate hymn  as  this  gave  them  an  excellent  opportunity  to  express  their 
feelings.  "  Throw  out  the  life-line," — it  was  an  earnest  prayer  in  song 
to  bring  assistance  to  those  unfortunates  who  are  sinking  in  a  sea  of 
temptation. 

"Christian  Endeavor  and  Missions"  was  the  theme  of  an  eloquent 
address  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Pounds,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Central  Christian 
Church,  of  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  E.  Pounds,  D.D.,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Let  me  give  some  reasons  for  affirming  that  the  Endeavor  Society  is  essen- 
tially missionary  in  its  nature;  that  missionary  work  is  not  something  it  may 
do,  but  something  it  must  do ;  and  I  suggest  that  this  is  true  because  the 
Endeavorer  makes  daily  study  of  the  great  missionary  book  of  the  world,  for 
no  one  who  reads  the  Word  constantly  enough  to  get  its  real  meaning  can  fail 
to  have  the  missionary  spirit.  The  Word  of  God  is  quick  and  quickening.  I 
pray  for  more  faith  in  it, —  a  faith  like  that  of  Jesus.  Perhaps  there  have  not 
arisen  in  Israel  prophets  of  greater  faith  in  the  truth  than  Luther  and  Carey  and 
Raikes  unto  this  day.  But  what  was  their  faith  compared  with  that  of  the  Man 
of  Nazareth,— he  who,  living  between  the  sectarianism  and  superstition  of 
the  Jew  on  the  one  hand  and  the  idolatry  and  sin  of  the  Gentile  on  the  other, 
gathered  twelve  unlearned  men  about  him  and  taught  them  apart  of  the  truth? 
And  when  eleven  of  them  partially  understood  what  they  heard  and  feebly- 
accepted  it,  he  confidently  declared  that  the  problem  of  the  world's  salvation 
was  solved,  its  redemption  from  sin  begun.  The  "  It  is  finished  "  of  the  Cross 
is  to  me  the  sublimest  word  of  history,  sacred  or  profane ;  and  to  doubt  that 
he  who  reads  God's  Word  every  day  will  be  active  in  missionary  work,  which 
is  taught  on  every  page  of  it,  is  to  doubt  the  power  of  truth  itself. 

Some  have  been  afraid  that  the  Endeavorers  would  not  be  loyal  to  the  teach- 
ing of  their  respective  denominations.  But  if  humbly  reading  the  Bible  every- 
day will  not  make  the  young  people  of  any  church  loyal  to  its  teaching,  then  I 
tremble  for  that  denomination;  and  if  every  young  man  and  woman  in  the 
world  could  be  induced  to  make  that  pledge  and  keep  it,  then  we  might  stand 
on  the  hill-top  and  shout  home  to  God,  "The  victory  is  won,  for  the  earth  is 
full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

Again,  the  Endeavor  Society  is  essentially  missionary  because  of  its  definition 
of  Christianity, — that  it  is  a  service.  "Trusting  for  strength"  suggests  the 
performing  of  labor  rather  than  the  forming  of  dogmas;  and"  striving  to  do 
what  He  would  like  to  have  me  do  "  implies  action  rather  than  sentiment,  and 
there  is  more  religion  in  motion  than  emotion  or  commotion.  Various  defini- 
tions of  Christianity  prevail,  with  as  various  results.  Many  think  it  a  sort  of  life 
insurance  company,  and  so  seek  it  as  a  good  place  in  which  to  die;  this  seems 
passing  strange  when  we  consider  how  very  dead  they  are  already.  Some  be- 
lieve it  to  be  a  resting-place,  and  thus  they  seek  in  it  what  they  call  a  "  church 
home;"  and  they  seem  to 'think  of  a  "church  home"  much  as  a  dog  views 
his  kennel, — a  good  place  to  sleep  and  growl  in.  Others  consider  church 
membership  to  be  a  ticket  on  a  through  express  train  to  heaven,  with  no 
stops,  sure  to  arrive  on  time  in  the  grand  station;  and  all  such  want  to  ride 
on  a  free  pass  and  in  the  sleepiHg-cz.r.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  thought 
by  many  to  be  meat  upon  which  they  may  feed  their  ambition  for  personal 
renown,  and  so  grow  great.  Others  look  upon  it  as  drink  to  satisfy  the  thirst 
for  social  position.     "  The  four  hundred"  must  greatly  change  their  opinions 


208  Official  Report  of  the 

before  they  will  be  ravished  by  the  thought  of  a  heaven  which  contains 
"  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,"  among  whom  Lazarus  has  the  place 
of  honor,  the  bosom  of  Abraham.  The  Church  has  been  thought  to  mean 
ecclesiastical  power,  a  synonym  of  which  is  "pope."  The  Endeavorer  believes 
that  Christianity  is  service  of  the  Saviour,  the  result  of  which  will  be  the  con- 
version of  the  world  to  the  Christ. 

Another  reason  for  saying  the  Endeavor  Society  is  missionary  is  because  of 
its  spirit  of  obedience.  "  Striving  to  do  whatever  He  would  like  to  have  me  do" 
is  so  much  like  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do.?"  that  the  Endeavorer  will 
be  like  Paul,  zealous  for  the  conversion  of  the  whole  world.  I  once  overheard  a 
man  say  to  another,  concerning  a  young  clergyman,  "Yes,  he  has  studied  the- 
ology, but  he  has  not  taken  orders  yet ;  "  and  using  the  word  in  a  different  sense, 
it  may  serve  as  a  definition  of  a  Christian  Endeavorer, —  one  who  has  taken 
"orders;"  one  who,  believing  in  the  divine  right  of  the  King  of  heaven  and 
earth  to  give  orders,  has  taken  them  to  execute,  not  to  argue  about.  "  Theirs 
not  to  reason  why,  theirs  but  to  do  and  die."  It  is  high  treason  to  argue  con- 
cerning a  command ;  and  treason,  being  a  capital  crime,  is  punishable  with 
spiritual  death.  There  have  been  plenty  in  the  Church  willing  to  give  orders, 
but  too  few  to  take  them.  But  Endeavorers  are  learning  obedience,  both  in 
letter  and  in  spirit,  and  so  they  are  going  into  all  the  world,  and  will  go  more 
and  more. 

And  since  the  Endeavor  Society  must  do  missionary  work,  if  true  to  itself,  we 
should  consider  how  it  can  best  do  it.  As  a  rule,  the  best  way  to  work  is  through 
the  regular  missionary  boards  of  the  Church.  Let  individual  societies  do  all  the 
special  work  they  will,or  can  be  persuaded  to  do,  but  let  it  be  special  work.  By  all 
means  let  us  have  some  particular  work  for  our  societies  to  unite  in  doing,  but  let 
it  be  selected,  or  at  least  managed,  by  the  general  boards.  I  have  several  reasons 
for  saying  this.  One  is  that  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  fundamental  idea  of 
Christian  Endeavor  that  it  is  a  society  in  and  for  and  through  the  Church  ; 
this  principle  is  cardinal, —  it  is  vital.  The  reason  why  the  Society  exists  at  all 
is  the  reason  why  it  exists  as  it  is.  To  train  young  converts  for  more  spiritual 
living  and  efficient  service  in  and  for  the  Church  is  its  mission.  There  can  be 
no  higher  calling  ;  and  to  do  this  well  is  surely  a  sufficient  work  for  any  one 
organization.  But  some  who  do  not  understand  what  the  real  work  of  the 
Society  is,  or  else  do  not  appreciate  the  importance  of  such  work,  think  that  if 
it  does  no  special  work  it  is  really  doing  nothing.  They  view  it  as  a  Niagara 
of  power,  beautiful  to  look  at,  but  entirely  wasted;  and  being  "practical,"  as 
they  call  it,  they  hasten  to  dig  power  tunnels  and  set  this  "  wasted  force  "  to 
doing  the  work  they  want  done.  President  Clark  says,  "  We  have  come  to  the 
'grind-my-axe '  period  of  the  Christian  Endeavor."  He  is  surely  right,  for  it 
seems  that  every  man  with  an  axe  —  and  every  hobbyist  has  at  least  one  — 
wants  it  ground  at  the  Endeavor  grindstone.  I  attribute  this  rush  of  business 
to  the  scarcity  of  good  grindstones,  for  it  is  surprising  how  few  organizations 
are  capable  of  really  helping  a  cause  ;  and  when  a  man  invents  a  new  reform 
or  a  novel  plan  for  "saving  the  masses,"  he  looks  around  for  some  means  of 
advancing  it  to  success.  If  the  Endeavor  Society  will  accept  it,  the  thing  is 
done.  The  glory  of  this  young  Society  is  its  strength.  This  strength  is  all 
expended  in  doing  the  work  to  which  God  has  called  it;  but  the  Philistines  of 
glittering  theories  and  petty  reforms  want  amusement;  and,  can  they  but  blind 
this  Samson  to  his  real  mission,  they  will  set  him  to  breaking  sticks  and  carry- 
ing loads  for  them,  and  he  will  himself  perish  in  the  ruin  that  must  surely  fol- 
low. But,  thank  God,  the  leaders  of  the  movement  understand  this,  so  there  is 
no  real  danger,  for  the  principle  of  working  in  and  for  and  through  the  local 
church  will  be  maintained.  And  then  the  regular  church  boards  are  already 
the  missionary  boards  of  the  Endeavor  Society,  for  the  Endeavorers  are  repre- 
sented in  every  regular  church  offering.  The  amount  reported  by  the  secre- 
taries as  coming  from  the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  is  only  a  tithe  of  what 
they  have  given  to  missions.  They  give  with  the  Church,  first  of  all,  and  this 
is  the  best  way  for  them  to  give ;  it  trains  them  to  regular  and  systematic  giv- 
ing, which  is  more  to  be  desired  than  much  fine  gold.     And  because  the  regular 


Fifteenth  hiternational  Convention.  209 

boards  are  our  boards  they  are  managing  our  special  work,  or  we  manage  it 
through  them.     Thus  the  work  does  not  fall  a  prey  to  designing  men. 

But  hear  another  reason, —  the  most  important  I  have  to  offer.  Endeavorers 
must  work  through  tlie  regular  missionary  boards,  that  they  may  learn  to  do  so. 
Suppose  they  did  nothing  but  special  work  for  the  next  ten  years.  By  that 
time  the  number  of  those  who  are  supporting  the  Church  missionary  work  will 
be  largely  diminished,  and  then  what  is  to  become  of  the  general  work.?  For 
if  our  Endeavorers  be  not  trained  to  work  for  and  through  the  missionary 
societies  for  the  next  ten  years,  they  will  not  be  in  as  vital  sympathy  with  them 
as  we  could  wish,  for  where  our  treasure  is  there  will  our  hearts  be  also.  After 
a  century  of  effort  to  get  the  older  people  ijito  sympathy  with  co-operative  work 
let  us  not  make  the  fatal  mistake  of  alienating  the  young  people  by  giving  them 
work  to  do  in  some  other  way.  He  who  does  so  will  be  no  true  friend  to  either 
Christian  Endeavor  or  missions. 

It  might  also  be  said  that  having  our  Endeavor  work  in  common  with  all  the 
Church  is  more  in  harmony  with  the  Christian  union  spirit  of  the  Society. 
On  the  night  of  Gethsemane,  the  eve  of  Calvary,  Jesus  prayed  the  Father  that 
his  people  might  be  one.  God  will  answer  this,  the  most  earnest  prayer  of  his 
only  Son,  as  soon  as  we,  his  people,  are  willing.  I  speak  it  reverently.  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  is  the  John  the  Baptist  of  to-day,  standing  in  the  wilderness  of 
sectarianism  and  crying,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths 
straight,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 

And  the  last  reason  I  would  suggest  for  doing  our  work  through  the  regular 
church  channels  is  that  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  humble  spirit  of  Christian 
Endeavor.  It  was  of  humble  beginning,  and  of  humble  purpose;  it  was  born 
to  service  ;  it  serves  the  Sunday  school ;  it  serves  the  prayer  meeting ;  it  serves 
the  Church  in  everyway, —  by  attending  all  the  services;  by  financial  support; 
by  winning  thousands  to  the  Church  and  preserving  tens  of  thousands  who  are 
already  Christians.  If  it  be  true  of  organizations,  as  of  individuals,  that  the 
greatest  is  the  servant  of  all,  then  Christian  Endeavor  is  the  greatest  of  all 
societies;  and  if  it  ever  falls,  which  God  forfend,  it  will  be  by  ambition  ;  for 
when  it  shall  seek  to  rule  instead  of  serve,  its  candlestick  will  be  removed  out 
of  its  place.  The  Society  is  of  humble  birth  ;  the  pastor  of  the  Williston 
Church  was  of  humble  spirit ;  and  when  the  Lord  shall  come,  bringing  his 
reward  with  him,  and  shall  crown  William  Carey,  the  apostle  to  the  heathen, 
and  Robert  Raikes,  the  apostle  to  the  children,  he  may  have  a  coronet  of  no 
less  brightness  for  Francis  E.  Clark,  the  apostle  to  young  Christians.  And 
the  noble  thing  about  all  of  these  is  that  no  one  of  them  tried  to  form  a  great 
organization,  or  do  a  heroic  deed  ;  but  when  the  Pharisees  of  the  Church  were 
bringing  their  showy  gifts  of  theological  arguments  and  elaborate  schemes  for 
"saving  the  masses,"  Carey  and  Raikes  and  Clark  came  and  cast  in  their  two 
mites  of  consecration  and  service, —  their  all.  Their  coming  was  unobserved 
by  all  who  were  in  the  temple,  except  only  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  By  blessing  the 
work  so  largely  he  has  said,  "These  have  given  more  than  they  all."  I  rejoice 
to  serve  a  Master  who  sees  such  gifts. 

We  might  also  consider,  in  the  third  place,  the  spirit  in  which  the  mission- 
ary work  of  Christian  Endeavor  should  be  done.  In  a  spirit  of  joy — joy  is 
characteristic  of  Christian  Endeavor,  as  of  mission  work.  Endeavor  work  is 
winsome;  it  is  pleasant.  I  like  Christian  Endeavor  because  I  like  it.  I  don't 
like  everything  that  I  like,  because  some  things  that  I  enjoy  are  not  wholesome 
in  their  effects ;  but  when  I  do  like  a  thing,  I  like  it  all  the  better  because  I  like 
it ;  and  in  missionary  work  is  found  the  deepest  of  even  the  Christian  joys.  It 
is  the  experience  of  the  great  truth,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
The  missionary  has  fellowship  with  the  Christ  in  the  joy  of  the  cross :  "Who 
for  the  joy  set  before  him" — the  joy  of  seeing  the  world  redeemed  more  and 
more — "  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame  ;  "  the  joy  the  missionary  felt 
when  he  declared  that  he  could  not  understand  how  heaven  could  be  heaven 
without  some  heathen  to  save. 

Again,  the  work  must  be  done  in  the  spirit  of  faith,  or  "trusting  in  the 
Lord,"  as  the  pledge  has  it.     "  Business  in  Christianity  "  is  becoming  quite  a 


210  Official  Report  of  the 

motto.  It  is  a  good  one;  but  the  work  of  missions  cannot  be  carried  on  suc- 
cessfully on  strictly  business  principles.  We  need  principles  as  accurate  and 
careful  as  those  of  business,  but  as  large  as  those  of  faith.  Business  principles 
do  not  make  enough  account  of  the  "silent  partner,"  the  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway."  The  business  eye  does  not  see  the  invisible  gold  and  silver  that  are  in 
the  treasury  of  the  Church.  Had  Carey  waited  for  business  principles  he  would 
never  have  gone  to  India,  or  Judson  to  Burmah.  By  faith  we  are  saved,  and  by 
faith  we  save.  The  armies  of  God,  when  they  marched  by  faith,  have  never 
lacked  supplies.  Christ  is  present  to  multiply  the  loaves  and  fishes.  All  we 
have  to  do  to  feed  men  is  to  help  them  to  get  hungry;  for  "  Blessed  are  they 
which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness;  for  they  shall  be  filled."  The 
missionary  boards  will  have  no  bother  to  pay  their  bills  if  they  only  make  them 
big  enough.  There  will  be  no  trouble  to  fill  our  mission  churches  to  overflow- 
ing if  we  only  build  tht  m  large  enough  ;  for  if  we  will  but  prove  the  Lord,  he 
will  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  out  such  a  blessing  as  there  shall  not 
be  room  to  receive. 

And  then  the  work  must  be  done  in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice, —  and  genuine 
sacrifice,  too, —  not  the  giving-up  of  a  few  unwholesome  luxuries,  but  the  giving 
of  some  of  the  capital  of  our  money,  some  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  A  busi- 
ness man  remarked  to  me  recently,  "  Religion  is  a  very  expensive  luxury."  I 
intimated  that  I  considered  it  one  of  the  necessities  of  life,  rather  than  a  luxury. 
"  But,"  said  he,  "you  know  a  man  must  live."  "  No,"  I  replied,  "  I  did  n't  know 
that."  John  the  Baptist  did  not  know  it;  the  martyrs  were  not  aware  of  it; 
Peter  and  John,  before  the  Sanhedrin,  did  not  declare  it;  but  they  did  say, 
"  We  cannot  but  —  we  must  —  speak  the  things  we  have  seen  and  heard  ;  "  their 
Master  did  not  teach  it  when  he  said.  "  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away." 
The  cross  of  Christ  forever  contradicts  it.  We  must  preach  the  Gospel,  and 
then  if  we  have  enough  left  to  buy  a  loaf  of  bread,  we  may  eat  it  and  be  inno- 
cent of  the  blood  of  all  men. 

But  what  can  we  sacrifice,  money  .^  Yes,  we  understand  that,  for  except  we 
leave  houses  and  lands  we  can  not  be  his  disciples.  Something  of  self  also. 
I  like  the  old  expression,  "  To  spend  and  to  be  spent."  One  who  saw  Christ 
die  on  Calvary  spake  a  truth  which,  had  he  understood  the  meaning  of  his  own 
words  and  spoken  them  in  earnest,  would  have  made  him  immortal :  "  He 
saved  others,  himself  he  cannot  save."  The  same  may  be  said  of  his  disciple. 
But  what  of  self  can  we  give  up?  Something  of  intellect,  perhaps;  not  that 
we  should  become  intellectually  weak,  but  intellectually  indifferent,  not  caring 
whether  we  be  considered  great  preachers  or  not ;  willing  to  become  fools  for 
Christ's  sake;  willing  to  be  considered  crazy,  even  if  our  madness  be  not  at- 
tributed to  much  learning,  as  was  that  of  Paul ;  willing  to  speak  the  language 
of  the  slums  where  that  is  best  understood  ;  yea,  even  learn  to  live  and  think  in 
that  language  and  forget  the  other,  as  Judson  forgot  his  English.  One  of  the 
greatest  errors  of  Christians  is  that  they  insist  upon  doing  their  own  thinking 
concerning  matters  of  which  God  has  spoken.  When  the  Christ  says,  "  Go  into 
all  the  world,"  some  have  dared  to  express  opinions  concerning  the  wisdom  of 
such  a  course.  There  is  a  neglected  command  in  the  New  Testament.  I  have 
never  heard  it  even  quoted,  except  for  the  sake  of  the  other  parts  of  the  verse: 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  ....  mindr  We  will  never 
take  the  world  for  the  Master  until  we  love  him  enough  with  our  minds  to  trust 
his  wisdom  above  our  own. 

We  must  sacrifice  something  of  the  will,  too.  Paul  subscribed  his  letters  in 
a  peculiar  way;  not  "  yours  truly,"  nor  "  yours  etc.,"  but  "  Paul,  a  servant  (liter- 
ally, bond  slave)  of  Jesus  Christ."  A  bond  slave  had  no  desires,  no  will,  no 
choice,  no  method,  no  motive,  no  end  of  his  own  ;  but  when  his  owner  said  Go, 
he  went.  We  might  sacrifice  something  of  natural  love  also.  Give  up  home, 
friends,  family,  the  graves  of  our  fathers,  to  live  in  a  strange  land, — there  to  die, 
and  to  be  buried  there. 

And  then  we  may  have  to  sacrifice  something  of  spiritual  culture.  When 
the  Master  went  apart  for  an  hour's  spiritual  refreshment  and  communion  with 
the  Father,  if  the  multitude  followed  after,  he  turned  and  taught  them  instead; 


FiftecntJi  International  Convention.  211 

and  some  of  us  may  have  to  fill  positions  in  life  and  business  and  society  not 
the  most  conducive  to  spiritual  growth.  We  must  do  it  for  Christ's  sake,  and 
only  satisfy  our  impatient  hearts  with  the  thought  that  we  shall  be  like  him  when 
we  see  him  face  to  face. 

And  then  we  must  deny  ourselves  our  self-denial,  and  give  what  we  give 
cheerfully.  Quit  boasting  to  ourselves  and  others  of  our  sacrifices;  for  when 
we  have  done  all,  we  have  only  done  that  which  it  was  our  duty  to  do.  We 
should  wash  our  faces  that  we  may  not  appear  unto  men  to  fast ;  we  must  take 
our  martyrdom  to  the  stake;  give  up  giving  up  ;  sacrifice  our  sacrifice;  be  not 
only  too  proud  to  be  proud,  but  too  humble  to  be  humble;  counting  it  joy  that 
we  are  permitted  to  suffer  for  His  name's  sake. 

Does  sacrifice  seem  hard  to  you.-'  Does  it  seem  like  a  hard  saying,  that  "he 
that  loveth  father,  mother,  son  and  daughter  more  than  me  is  not  worthy  of 
me"?  I  am  sure  it  will  not  seem  so  when  you  consider  the  last  words,  "not 
worthy  of  me."  Then,  O  Lord,  those  who  forsake  these  things  are  in  some  sense 
worthy  of  thee.  Worthy  of  him !  O  my  soul,  who  is !  O  our  Saviour, 
may  we  be  !  God  forgive  us  if  the  thought  shall  unduly  exalt  us  !  Shall  we 
not  count  all  things  but  refuse  that  we  may  win  Christ,  and  at  last  be  found 
worthy  to  be  with  him,  where  he  is  ? 

Following  Dr.  Pounds's  address  came  another  appropriate  incident, 
the  presentation  of  a  handsome  silk  banner,  suitably  inscribed,  to  the 
local  union  which  contains  the  largest  number  of  members  who  have 
given  not  less  than  one-tenth  of  their  incomes  to  the  Lord.  The  pre- 
sentation was  made  by  Rev.  S.  B.  Meeser,  of  Worcester,  Mass.  Mr. 
Meeser's  presentation  remarks  were  of  a  very  high  order  and  aroused 
enthusiasm.  For  two  years  past  the  banner  has  gone  to  Cleveland,  but 
this  year  the  NewYork  Local  Union  reported  eight  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
such  members,  and  the  banner  went  to  it.  When  the  announcement 
was  made  a  hymn  was  started  by  the  New  York  delegation.  The  feel- 
ing was  intense.  As  a  sort  of  relief  some  of  the  New  York  delegates 
set  up  a  cheer  :  — 

"Rah!  Rah!  Rah! 
Who  are  we  ? 
N.  Y.  Y.  P.  S.C.E." 

The  banner  was  received  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Amerman,  president  of  the 
New  York  Local  Union,  who  made  a  few  brief  remarks,  expressing  the 
intention  of  the  union  to  do  even  better  next  year,  while  an  enthusiastic 
New  Yorker  mounted  the  platform  and  waved  the  big  blue  and  white 
flag  of  the  union.  Then  came  some  singing  by  the  octette  from 
Hampton  Institute,  and  chorus  and  audience  sang  "  Marching  to  Zion." 

Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  the  pastor  of  Bethany  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  Philadelphia,  was  then  introduced  to  deliver  the  closing 
address  of  the  evening,  on  the  subject  "  Christian  Endeavor  an  Evan- 
gelistic Force." 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  thoughtful  people  in  all  branches  of  society  that  we  are 
coming  on  to  some  sort  of  a  great  crisis.  Some  believe  that  this  is  the  coming 
of  our  Lord;  others,  that  it  is  to  be  a  great  uprising  of  the  working  forces ;  while 
others  simply  stand  in  wonder  and  amazement  and  look  for  they  know  not 
what. 

I  believe  that  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  what  may  be  called  a  great  evan- 
gelistic era,  and  yet  this  is  to  be  a  work  not  such  as  has  been  conducted  in  the 


212  Official  Report  of  the 

past,  but  a  work  peculiarly  identified  with  the  pastors  of  the  churches,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  churches,  and  the  societies  of  the  churches.  In  saying  this,  I  put 
no  mark  of  disrespect  upon  God's  credited  evangelists,  for  I  believe  that  the 
office  of  divine  appointment;  but  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  with  the  chang- 
ing of  other  systems  and  methods,  this  new  evangelistic  era  is  to  be  under  the 
control  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  and  her  specially  appointed  leaders.  In 
this  work  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  to  play  no  small  part.  I  know  of  at 
least  five  cities  of  importance  in  our  land  already  planning  to  enter  upon  such 
a  campaign  with  the  beginning  of  the  Church  life  in  the  fall ;  and  I  am  profound 
in  the  conviction  that  the  season  of  1896  and  1897  shall  witness  such  an  out- 
pouring of  God's  Spirit,  and  such  an  ingathering  of  such  as  shall  be  saved,  as 
we  have  not  seen  for  many  a  year. 

But  what  can  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  do  ?  In  the  first  place,  if  the 
pastor  is  to  be  instrumental  in  this  work  he  will  need  to  have  done  for  him  what 
the  people  did  for  Moses;  namely,  to  have  his  hands  uplifted.  This  may  be 
accomplished  by  means  of  prayer.  No  man  in  the  pulpit  can  be  strong  in  the 
best  use  of  that  word  if  he  is  without  this  atmosphere;  and  no  man  in  the  pulpit 
would  be  weak  if  a  faithful  band  of  people  should  lift  him  up  to  God  for  a  spe- 
cial manifestation  of  his  Spirit.  This  is  the  first  move  for  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society, —  pray  for  your  pastor. 

Second,  organize  praying  bands  for  the  lost,  and  then  be  definite  about 
your  petitions  ;  ask  God  for  certain  individuals,  and  ask  him  for  them  at  a  cer- 
tain time.  Believe  that  what  you  ask  you  will  receive,  and  set  it  down  as  a  rule 
that  when  one  begins  to  pray  for  the  unsaved  he  naturally  turns  to  make  an 
effort  to  help  God  to  answer  that  prayer ;  and  if  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
of  the  world  could  be  pledged  to  pray  for  the  unsaved  men  and  women  of  the 
world,  this  year  would  witness  not  one  Pentecost,  but  a  hundred,  and  that 
would  mean  three  hundred  thousand  souls  for  Christ. 

Third,  as  a  preliminary  to  a  special  series  of  meetings  in  a  community,  let 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  people  who  will  not 
go  to  church  to  receive  it.  Every  city  and  town  in  this  country  ought  to  have 
during  the  summer  months,  also  September  and  October,  numerous  outdoor 
services,  where  direct  appeals  can  be  made  to  the  unsaved  who  seem  to  be  in- 
different, but  who  actually  are  longing  to  know  the  peace  of  God.  This  was  the 
way  the  Saviour  worked;  and  if  on  a  certain  day  the  whole  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  would  turn  out  from  the  Church  to  preach  upon  the  streets,  its  highways 
and  its  byways,  in  one  day  there  would  be  thousands  of  souls  brought  to  Christ, 
and  tens  of  thousands  more  deeply  interested. 

Fourth,  at  the  first  favorable  opportunity  make  an  effort  to  unite  the 
churches  of  your  cities  or  your  towns  in  a  straight-out  campaign  in  behalf  of 
the  lost.  The  counsel  of  the  pastors  will  be  needed  in  this;  and  in  behalf  of 
these  men  of  God  1  am  prepared  to  say  that  hundreds  and  thousands  of  them 
over  the  country  wait  to-day  for  tlie  first  word  of  encouragement  which  would 
lead  them  to  spring  into  the  very  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  there  is  hardly  a  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel  in  the  land  to-day  but  what  I  believe  would  be  willing  to 
enter  lieart  and  soul  in  this  service  if  he  were  sure  simply  of  the  support  of  his 
own  people.  Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  on  the  fields, 
for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest;  and  I  summon  the  great  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  to  follow  the  Master  more  closely  than  ever  in  these  days 
that  are  before  us,  so  that  this  year  upon  which  we  now  enter  may  be  the  very 
best  of  our  lives  in  point  of  victory. 

Calvary   Church. 

Another  great  meeting  was  held  at  Calvary  Baptist  Church.  Antici- 
pating a  crowd,  Endeavorers  and  their  friends  began  to  arrive  before 
seven  o'clock ;  and  when  Rev.  Ralph  W.  Brokaw,  of  Springfield,  the 
presiding  officer,  opened  the  evening's  exercises,  there  was  scarcely  a 
vacant  seat  in  the  entire  church.     The  first  twenty  minutes  were  de- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  213 

voted  to  a  praise  service,  and  then  Rev.  Dr.  Greene,  pastor  of  Calvary 
Church,  conducted  the  devotional  exercises. 

The  first  topic,  "  Frank  Talks  with  Our  Associate  Members,"  was 
divided  into  two  parts.     The  first  address  was  "Who  Should  Do  It  ?" 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  L.  Campbell,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

Associate  members  occupy  a  peculiar  and  interesting  relation  to  our  socie- 
ties. If  there  are  many  of  them,  it  indicates  that  the  meetings  are  attractive, 
reaching  those  who  are  outside  and  bringing  them  in.  Their  number,  or  lack 
of  number,  is  a  sort  of  thermometer  which  shows  a  growing  or  a  declining 
organization  ;  then,  too,  they  constitute  in  themselves  a  most  important  class. 
While  they  do  not  make  any  profession  of  religion,  they  are  so  far  favorably 
disposed  to  it  that  they  come  out  and  attend  the  weekly  gatherings.  The  soci- 
ety of  Christians,  the  singing,  the  speaking,  and  all  that  goes  to  make  up  a 
meeting  lias  sufficient  attraction  to  cause  them  to  leave  other  company  and  be 
found  there.  Many  of  them  are  like  the  young  ruler, —  lacking  only  one  thing. 
They  will  not  remam  in  this  position;  either  they  will  before  long  come  out  on 
the  Lord's  side,  or  they  will  soon  grow  weary  and  drift  away  and  become  lost 
to  us.  Of  all  persons  anywhere  they  should  be  the  object  of  our  deepest  solici- 
tude, and  most  fervent  prayers.  They  are  of  good  character ;  they  are  young  ; 
they  are  interested;  they  are  yet  unsaved. 

1.  Who  should  speak  to  them  ?  The  pastor.  He  stands  at  the  head  and  his 
example  will  be  contagious.  The  strong  wish  of  every  true  pastor  is  to  get 
into  thorough  touch  with  all  the  young  people  of  his  congregation  ;  he  will 
make  any  possible  sacrifice  to  bring  this  about.  My  friend  Uncle  Boston 
Smith  visited  a  Minnesota  village  where  the  young  people  were  living  in  total 
disregard  of  the  churches  and  the  Sabbath.  He  went  in  among  them,  played 
baseball  with  them,  helped  them  win  a  match  game,  got  hold  of  their  sympa- 
thies, and  then  they  came  to  church  and  large  numbers  of  them  were  converted 
to  God.  Being  crafty,  he  caught  them  with  guile.  Other  ministers  resort  to 
other  means,  social  or  intellectual,  so  as  to  get  near  their  young  people.  Once 
their  confidence  is  won,  the  steps  after  that  become  comparatively  easy.  No 
one  ought  to  know  how  to  deal  with  souls  as  a  pastor  can;  it  is  the  work  to 
which  his  life  is  consecrated  ;  no  matter  how  eloquently  he  may  preach,  it  is  the 
man  who  does  the  hand-to-hand  personal  work  who  is  pre-eminently  successful 
as   a  soul-winner. 

2.  Who  should  do  it  ?  The  members  of  the  Church.  The  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  stands  for  Christ  and  the  Church.  The  Church  should  also 
stand  for  Christian  Endeavor.  One  of  the  dangers  of  organizations  of  this 
kind  is  that  the  young  people  may  constitute  one  group,  and  the  rest  of  the 
Church  another  group,  and  that  both  may  gather  themselves  in  opposite  camps. 
With  wonderful  wisdom,  the  leaders  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  have 
sought  in  every  way  to  prevent  any  such  line  of  cleavage.  One  of  the  most 
vital  and  cardinal  principles  emphasized  in  every  way  is  the  duty  of  unqualified, 
unswerving  loyalty  to  the  Church.  There  is  a  corresponding  duty,  too,  on  the 
other  hand.  The  members  of  our  churches  must  not  stand  aloof  from  the 
young  people ;  there  must  be  the  completest  reciprocity;  action  and  reaction 
should  be  equal ;  every  chasm  should  be  filled  up,  and  none  ever  suffered  to 
exist.  The  future  pastors,  and  deacons,  and  trustees,  and  editors,  and  teachers 
are  to-day  in  our  Christian  Endeavor  Societies.  Our  interest  in  them  is  simply 
our  interest  in  the  future  of  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  world. 

3.  W^ho  should  do  it  ?  The  active  members.  They  have  as  their  peculiar 
work  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  associate  members  ;  they  belong  to  their  own 
years,  and  come  into  direct  contact  with  them.  In  every  step  and  act  of  life 
we  are  molding  character  and  shaping  the  destiny  of  those  by  whom  we  are  sur- 
rounded,—  savors  of  life  unto  life,  or  savors  of  death  unto  death.  A  blithe  and 
merry  bricklayer  one  gloomy  day  was  working  upon  a  scaffold,  building  the 
wall  of  a  house,  and  all  the  while  he  wrought  he  was  singing  and  whistling  as 


214  Official  Report  of  the 

bright  as  a  lark.  Little  dreamed  he  up  yonder  at  his  daily  task  that  the  melan- 
choly eye  of  Thomas  Carlyle  was  sadly  watching  him  from  a  dark  chamber,  and 
that  his  unconscious,  cheerful  example  led  him  to  re-write  and  then  complete 
his  great  work  on  the  French  Revolution.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  who  has 
just  died,  and  her  brother  Henry  both  received  their  bias  toward  the  colored 
race  through  the  modest,  unconscious  influence  of  a  black  man  named  Charles 
Smith,  who  was  a  servant  in  the  farm-parsonage  of  their  distinguished  father. 
How  vast  the  influence  of  that  humble  man  in  the  destiny  of  this  nation  !  Had 
the  impression  made  by  his  life  been  the  opposite  of  what  it  was,  the  history  of 
our  country  might  have  been  different  to-day.  The  humblest  Christian  Endeav- 
orer  before  me  in  his  or  her  most  unsuspecting  moments  may  be  touching  springs 
that  will  shape  the  future  of  the  nation  and  change  the  history  of  the  world. 
Solemn,  stupendous  thought!  Not  simply  what  I  say,  but  what  I  do;  not 
simply  what  I  do,  but  what  1  am, —  this  is  the  measure  of  my  responsibility. 
We  are  not  going  to  heaven  or  to  hell  alone.  Every  conversation  that  you  have 
with  an  associate  member,  every  contact  of  life  with  life,  of  character  with 
character,  of  magnet  with  steel,  will  endure 

"  When  the  sun  grows  cold  and  the  stars  are  old, 
.A.nd  the  leaves  of  the  judgment  book  unfold.'" 

It  is  yours,  therefore,  to  so  live  before  them  that  everything  you  do  and  say 
will  tell  the  unconverted  about  you  "more  about  Jesus." 

4.  Who  should  do  it  'i  Those  Christians  among  you  who  are  personal  friends 
of  the  unsaved.  Andrew  found  Simon  Peter,  and  brought  him  to  Jesus;  Philip 
found  Nathaniel;  Martha  found  Mary.  There  is  some  one  over  whom  you  have 
more  influence  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Church  put  together.  Use  that  influence 
for  God;  tell  your  own  experience, —  how  God  first  spoke  peace  to  your  soul. 
This  was  what  Paul  did.  When  they  brought  him  before  courts  and  kings,  he 
rehearsed  the  way  that  Jesus  met  him  at  noonday  near  the  gate  of  Damascus, 
and  how  he  was  saved.  This  was  an  argument  they  could  never  answer.  Do 
it  with  your  unconverted  friend,  and  a  blessing  will  rest  upon  your  own  soul, 
and  God  will  use  you  in  bringing  others  to  his  feet. 

The  next  division  of  the  topic  was  "  When  Should  It  Be  Done  ? " 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Robinson,  D.D.,  Englewood,  III. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  to-night  on  "When  Should  It  Be  Done?"  I  have 
three  points  that  will  enable  you  to  know  how  fast  I  am  using  up  the  time. 
The  first  one  is  that  we  should  decide  the  question  by  our  own  condition, —  that  is 
to  say,  we  should  have  a  frank  talk  with  an  associate  member  when  we  have 
been  impressed  by  some  great  truth  of  emotion  ourselves.  It  don't  do  to  talk 
to  an  associate  member,  or  any  other  young  person, —  and  the  younger  the  per- 
son you  are  talking  to  the  truer  it  is, —  on  religious  subjects,  unless  you  feel  it 
yourself. 

Once  there  was  a  very  worldly  mother  who  had  trouble  to  make  her  child 
mind,  and  a  good,  unworldly  mother  spoke  to  that  worldly  mother  and  told  her 
to  use  moral  suasion  with  her  boy  and  she  could  manage  him.  She  said,  as 
some  people  say,  "  Go  to  ;  now  1  will  be  religious."  She  said  to  her  own  self, 
"  Go  to;  now  I  will  use  that  kind  of  a  machine.  I  will  use  moral  suasion  on 
that  boy  of  mine."  So  she  thought  up  all  the  good  things  she  could.  She  got 
that  little  boy  on  her  lap  and  talked  machine-talk  to  him.  When  she  got 
through,  her  closing  appeal  was,  "  Now,  Walter,  you  will  do  better,  won't  you.?" 
"  Why,  ma,  all  the  time  you  were  talking  your  upper  jaw  did  n't  move  at  all, 
and  your  under  jaw  kept  a-going  all  the  time."  He  was  an  observant  boy.  He 
knew  that  she  was  talking  for  the  sake  of  talking,  and  he  watched  how  that 
kind  of  machinery  worked. 

So  then,  when  you  are  going  to  talk  to  an  associate  member,  be  sure  that  you 
have  within  you  something  that  fills  and  thrills  your  own  soul.  Then  is  when 
to  do  it.  When  you  have  a  sense  of  worth  of  your  own  soul  and  the  associate 
member's  soul,  when  you  see  that  neither  silver  nor  gold,  nor  the  election  of 


FiftccntJi  International  Convention.  215 

Bryan  nor  the  election  of  McKinley,  when  you  see  that  nothing  else  is  of  any 
consequence  at  all,  compared  to  your  own  soul,  then  is  the  time  to  talk  to  an 
associate  member  about  his  soul.  And  when  you  feel  eternity  near  you,  and  it 
becomes  real  to  you  that  that  other  world  is  so  near  that  the  sweet  closing  of  an 
eye  may  bring  you  there,  then  is  the  time  to  talk  to  your  associate  member 
about  eternity. 

Point  number  two  is.  that  the  question  is  also  to  be  decided  by  the  condition 
of  the  associate  member. 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  for- 
tune." And  there  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  the  associate  members,  in  his  soul, 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  everlasting  life  with  God  and  Jesus  Christ. 
Neglected  it  may  never,  never  again  come.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  oppor- 
tunity. Take  the  associate  member  when  he  is  in  a  susceptible  mood.  Jesus 
talked  with  people  once  about  rejoicing,  and  when  did  he  do  \tl  Did  he  take 
them  at  a  time  when  they  were  not  enabled  to  be  joyful.?  Oh,  no.  They  had 
been  through  the  villages  of  Galilee,  the  seventy,  and  they  returned  with  joy. 
They  had  had  some  good  fortune  that  they  did  not  expect.  They  said,  "  Why, 
Lord,  even  the  demons  are  subject  to  us  !  We  tried,  tremblingly,  thy  name 
upon  them,  and  we  were  able  to  cast  them  out."  He  entered  into  their  joy  for 
a  minute, —  what  tact! — and  he  said,  "While  you  were  passing  out  the  little 
devils,  the  demons,  I  saw  as  in  a  vision  the  prince  of  devils,  Satan  himself,  as 
lightning  fall  from  heaven."  It  is  glorious  work  we  are  in,  but  notwithstanding, 
in  this  rejoice  not  especially  that  the  demons  are  subject  unto  you,  but  rather 
rejoice  in  your  individual  salvation,  if  you  have  it,  that  your  names  are  written 
in  the  book  of  heaven. 

Don't  you  know  when  any  one  is  in  great  grief  that  is  the  time  to  say, 
"  Your  brother  shall  rise  again,"  as  He  said  to  Martha?  And  he  led  her  on  and 
on  until  he  said  to  her,  "  1  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life."  So  take  the 
time  when  the  associate  member  is  susceptible.  There  are  such  times.  They 
have  their  sorrows  and  their  joys,  and  if  you  have  a  sympathetic  heart  kindled 
by  a  companionship  with  Him  who  had  such  strangely  insertive  sympathies 
with  the  sorrows  of  mankind,  at  a  time  when  an  associate  member  feels  grief, 
just  then  tell  him  in  that  susceptible  hour  of  the  Man  of  sorrow,  acquainted 
with  grief.  In  their  hour  of  gladness,  when  you  see  they  are  full  of  gladness, 
tell  them  of  Him  who  was  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows. 

Take  the  associate  member  when  he  is  alone.  Some  man  has  been  writing 
a  chapter  in  a  book  lately  to  the  effect  that  Christianity  now  works  with  indi- 
viduals, whereas  heretofore  people  have  been  taken  in  masses.  Not  at  all. 
God  always  began  with  one.  He  commenced  with  one  man  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  and  it  was  not  until  later  on  that  he  even  had  the  man's  other  self,  the 
woman,  there.  He  took  one  man,  Abraham,  and  out  of  Abraham's  seed  he 
took  Isaac,  and  from  Isaac's  children  he  took  Jacob,  and  so  on  ;  and  through 
his  one  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  he  brought  in  redemption  to  the  world. 

Remember  this:  that  Jesus  did  not  hold  an  immense  convention  in  a  tent. 
Such  things  are  good,  but  beware  that  you  who  attend  these  immense  meet- 
ings from  year  to  year  do  not  think  that  big  tent  meetings  or  big  church  meet- 
ings are  the  chosen  means  of  bringing  the  kingdom  of  God  into  the  world. 
They  are  not.  That  is  indicated  when  you  see  him  taking  Nicodemus  alone  by 
night,  and  the  woman  of  Samaria  alone  by  the  well,  and  when  Philip  findeth 
Nathanael  and  bringeth  him,  one  man,  alone  to  the  Christ.  Get  the  associate 
member  alone  after  meeting.  I  wish  I  might  tell  you  of  a  tree, — I  need  no 
picture  to  see  it, — one  tree  and  one  piece  of  sidewalk,  seen  dimly  in  the  gloom, 
when  my  only  sister  said  to  me  at  a  time  of  revival,  which  was  not  having  more 
effect  upon  me  than  medicine  upon  a  stone  statue,  "  Willie,  don't  you  care 
anything  about  these  things?"    That  was  the  beginning. 

Thirdly,  let  me  say  that  you  are  to  talk  to  the  associate  member  whenever 
the  Spirit  moves  you.  I  know  that  is  used  for  a  slang  phrase,  but  you  know 
that  as  that  phrase  came  in  its  original  meaning  it  is  a  very  sacred  one.  Was 
it  not  when  Philip  was  going  down  toward  the  south  country,  and  the  eunuch, 
a  great  authority  in  the  court  of  the  Queen  of  Ethiopia,  had  been  to  Jerusalem 


216  Official  Report  of  the 

to  worship  and  was  returning  ?  He  sat  in  his  chariot  reading  the  Word  of  God 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  said  to  Philip,  "  Draw  nigh  to  this  chariot,"  and  so  on. 
Does  the  Spirit  of  God  ever  say  anything  to  you  or  to  me  ?  I  think  it  does.  I 
think  the  Holy  Spirit  is  here  now.  I  think  that  just  as  surely  as  the  trade-winds 
blow  across  the  sea,  so  surely  does  that  Spirit  which  Jesus  said  was  like  the 
wind  move  in  its  great  carrying  tide  over  the  ocean  of  human  life.  What  we 
need  to-day  is  to  hoist  the  sails.  I  believe  the  light  is  forever  shining  upon  you 
and  me,  only  we  do  not  put  up  the  shutters.  That  is  all  we  need.  I  believe 
that  the  river  of  God  is  forever  about  us,  only  it  is  so  magnificent  that  we  do 
not  realize  it. 

There  were  some  sailors  once  that  had  used  up  all  the  water  of  the  ship. 
They  saw  another  ship  coming.  They  hailed  the  other  ship  with  the  signal  of 
distress.  The  answer  was,  "What  do  you  want?"  "Water,  water;  we  are 
choked  for  the  want  of  water."  "  You  are  in  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon;  dip  it 
up."  I  know  that  is  an  old  story,  but  it  applies  most  perfectly  to  this  thing. 
The  Spirit  of  God  is  ready  to  be  given  to  you  when  you  ask  the  Father  for  it. 

I  have  done  with  these  three  points,  and  am  about  ready  to  stop.  All  three 
of  them  sometimes  come  together.  Sometimes  the  associate  member  is  in  a 
susceptible  condition,  and  sometimes  you  have  a  great  truth  in  your  heart,  and 
then  also  you  are  conscious  and  he  is  conscious  of  the  movement  of  the  unseen 
power  which  we  call  the  Holy  Ghost.  Those  are  the  great  days  when  souls  are 
born  again. 

And  so,  in  answering  this  question,  I  should  say,  "  Speak  to  the  associate 
member;  have  a  frank  talk  with  him  every  day.  Sunday  is  a  good  day.  You 
know  events  make  the  calendar  and  the  red  days  on  it,  and  the  calendar  does 
not  make  the  events.  There  was  a  Monday  that  is  like  our  day  Monday, — a 
sacred  day  in  Jerusalem, — a  common  day.  Men  went  about  their  business. 
There  was  no  religion.  It  was  not  a  worship  day.  It  was  a  Monday.  It  was 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  Sacred  day  was  over.  The  Sabbath  was  past,  and 
just  then  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead.  Search  your  Bible  through,  and  find  where 
Jesus  says  to  transfer  the  Sabbath  from  the  seventh  day  to  the  first  day.  You 
can  not  do  it.  What  did  it?  What  put  those  red  letters  on  the  calendar  that 
mean  Sabbaths?  A  mighty  event.  And  so  you  can  make  any  day  —  Monday, 
Tuesday,  Wednesday.Thursday,  Friday,  Saturday  —  the  holiest  day  in  the  week 
for  any  associate  member  by  making  it  the  day  when  Christ  rose  from  the  dead 
within  their  souls  and  unto  new  life,  and  transformed  them  into  his  likeness." 

Do  not  keep  after  the  same  associate  member  all  the  time.  I  do  not  mean 
that  when  I  say  speak  to  him  every  day.  Don't  you  be  guilty  of  that  machine- 
work  of  nagging  at  one  soul  all  the  time  and  saying,  "  James,  don't  you  want  to 
be  a  Christian  ? "  and  then  the  next  day,  "  James,  don't  you  want  to  be  saved  ? " 
and  so  on  and  on.  I  used  to  hate  those  fellows  that  came  after  me  that  way. 
They  never  had  any  effect  on  me.  Don't  do  that.  That  is  not  divine  hus- 
bandry. John  Sterling's  father  gave  him  some  seeds,  and  John  planted  them, 
and  the  next  morning  he  dug  them  up  to  see  how  they  were  getting  along. 
Then  he  put  them  down  again,  and  the  next  day  he  took  them  up  to  see  how 
they  were  getting  along  again.     Poor  John  Sterling  !     He  could  not  wait. 

When  the  soul  of  the  associate  member  is  in  the  right  condition,  and  you 
are  in  the  right  condition,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  moves  you,  speak  to  that  soul, 
plant  the  seed  in  it,  watch  over  it  tenderly,  carefully,  lovingly,  and  let  it  rest 
until  the  rain  of  God  shall  come  down  on  it.— the  early  and  the  later  rain,  per- 
haps,  and  then  after  a  while  go  and  cultivate  it   a  little.     You  do  not  hoe 

corn— or  we  did  not  when  I  was  a  boy,  if  I  remember  —  more  than  once  or  twice 
before  the  crop  comes.  ,         ,  ,  , 

When  you  have  sown  that  seed  go  and  try  another  soul,  and  another  and 
another,  and  by  the  time  you  have  got  a  certain  distance  it  will  be  time  to  go 
back  and  cultivate  again. 

Mr.  Fred  S.  Ball,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  then  conducted  an  interest- 
ino-  discussion  concerning  Endeavor  work.  He  paid  particular  attention 
to  the  bringing  into  the  fold  of  active  membership  the  associate  mem- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  217 

bers  of  the  different  societies.  He  wanted  to  find  out,  for  the  benefit 
of  himself  and  all  Endeavorers,  the  different  plans  of  the  several 
societies  for  bringing  about  this  much-desired  end,  and  he  called  upon 
members  and  delegates  present  to  explain  how  they  did  it.  This  invi- 
tation brought  delegates  from  every  part  of  the  United  States  to  their 
feet,  who  gave  interesting  data  concerning  the  number  of  associate 
members  in  their  respective  societies,  and  their  plans  of  transforming 
them  into  active  members. 

The  meeting  closed  with  an  address  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rufus  W. 
Hufford,  pastor  of  St.  Matthew's  Lutheran  Church,  of  Reading,  Pa. 
His  subject  was  "  Individual  Responsibility  for  Soul-Winning." 

Address  of  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Hufford,  D.D.,  Reading,  Pa. 

The  subject  before  us  is  "  Individual  Responsibility  for  Soul-Saving."  That 
is  a  most  interesting  subject  when  you  come  to  think  of  it  —  a  most  important 
subject.  It  is  oppressive  in  its  earnestness, —  individual  responsibility  for  soul- 
saving.  There  was  a  time  centuries  ago  when  men  were  discussing  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  people  had  souls  or  not.  Some  of  the  Jewish  rabbis  dis- 
cussed the  question  as  to  whether  women  had  souls  or  not.  A  Scotch  writer 
has  lately  called  attention  to  this :  that  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus  who  has  enabled 
us  to  save,  who  has  brought  into  this  world  the  thought  that  the  soul  is  worth 
something,  and  that  it  is  always  worth  something,  that  we  are  ever  to  make  an 
effort  to  save  it.  Jesus  has  brought  that  into  the  world.  He  illustrates  it  in 
this  way  :  for  a  long  time  it  was  not  known  that  there  were  any  diamonds  down 
at  a  certain  place  in  Africa ;  but  once  there  was  a  bright  stone  discovered  there. 
Some  one  kicked  it,  picked  it  up  and  looked  at  it,  and  found  out  that  he  had  a 
diamond.     He  found  out  that  those  pebbles  there  were  valuable. 

A  short  time  ago  in  our  own  land  a  man  picked  up  a  stone  and  threw  it  at  a 
cow.  He  was  driving  his  cow  home  and  the  cow  was  a  little  inclined  to  wander 
off  to  the  bushes.  He  picked  up  a  stone  to  throw  at  her  to  make  her  get  back 
into  the  road.  The  stone  seemed  very  heavy.  He  began  to  examine  it.  The 
weight  of  it  startled  him.  He  did  not  throw  it  at  the  cow.  He  took  it  home 
with  him  and  had  it  examined  and  found  it  was  very  rich  in  gold.  That  man 
who  was  poor  before  that  was  very  soon  worth  $100,000.  He  had  found  some- 
thing that  was  very  valuable  right  there  in  the  road. 

We  have  valuable  souls  all  about  us.  We  are  living  with  them.  They  are 
growing  up  in  our  households.  They  are  in  our  Sunday  schools  and  Young 
People's  Societies.  They  are  in  the  Church  and  outside  of  it.  They  are  on 
every  street  and  highway.  Wherever  there  is  a  human  being  there  is  one  who 
has  an  immortal  soul,  that  which  is  infinitely  valuable  ;  and  because  it  is  infin- 
itely valuable,  the  question  comes  to  us  as  to  our  individual  responsibility  for 
saving  souls. 

In  hastening  on,  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  just  this.  In  the  first  place, 
recognizing  the  value  of  the  soul,  we  ourselves  are  to  feel  that  we  are  to  put 
forth  individual  efforts  to  save  it.  When  we  talk  about  a  soul  being  valuable, 
and  working  to  save  it,  I  think  the  first  impression  that  is  made  upon  the  aver- 
age person  is,  I  wish  I  couid  get  a  chance  to  approach  those  people.  The 
first  impression  is,  If  we  could  just  collect  around  us  those  persons  and  begin 
to  say  what  we  have  to  say  about  their  welfare  !  That  is  the  disposition;  that 
is  the  temptation;  but  it  is  not  the  wise  thing  to  do  at  all.  We  are  talking 
about  individual  responsibility,  and  that  presents  two  things.  It  is  the  individ- 
ual who  is  responsible ;  and  in  order  to  do  his  best  work  he  must  work  upon 
the  individual.  It  is  a  very  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  best  work  is 
done,  as  has  been  said  to-night,  by  getting  people  in  the  mass  and  talking  to 
them  there. 

I  think  there  has  been  an  immense  amount  of  time  wasted  by  young  men 
who   have   thought   that   they   were   suddenly   called,   without  any   particular 


218  Official  Report  of  the 

amount  of  preparation,  to  become  Moodys,  and  preach  to  the  people.  I  think 
there  has  been  a  good  deal  of  effort  wasted  just  in  that  way.  I  do  not  under- 
rate, I  trust,  the  efforts  that  are  made  in  all  of  our  societies.  I  believe  any- 
body who  has  the  opportunity  and  ability  to  talk  a  minute  ought  to  talk  a 
minute  as  it  is  given  to  him,  or  two  minutes,  or  even  five  minutes.  He  ought 
not  to  kill  the  meeting  by  talking  ten  minutes,  as  a  rule. 

But  there  is  something  a  great  deal  better  than  that.  It  is  set  forth  in  just 
these  words,  that  we  are  to  reach  the  individual, — the  individual  is  to  reach  the 
individual.  As  has  been  said  to-night,  that  was  the  Lord's  own  method.  He 
who  knew  the  value  of  the  soul  reached  the  soul  as  a  rule  in  that  way.  He 
went  to  the  woman  at  the  well  and  talked  with  her.  The  disciples  were  sur- 
prised that  he  should  do  such  a  thing.  They  did  not  consider  her  soul  as  of 
any  great  value.  They  did  not  think  it  was  to  his  credit  or  theirs  that  he 
should  be  seen  talking  to  her.  Yet  he  did  talk  with  her,  and  his  talk  resulted 
in  the  salvation  of  her  soul.  There  was  a  woman  of  lower  repute  even  than 
she,  and  it  was  the  Lord's  teaching  that  saved  her.  Mary  Magdalene,  out  of 
whom  he  cast  devils,  was  the  one  who  bore  the  intelligence  first  that  Christ  had 
risen  from  the  dead. 

He  gives  us  this  example  of  reaching  the  individual  soul,— just  hunting  up 
some  one  and  talking  to  that  one.  It  is  not  a  difficult  thing  to  do.  Every  one 
can  do  something  for  them.  We  find  them  everywhere.  It  may  be  difficult  to 
get  a  congregation  together,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  just  one.  I  remember 
a  young  man,  in  a  church  over  in  Pennsylvania,  who  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  fike  to  teach  a  Sunday-school  class.  He  had  never  been  a  faithful  Sun- 
day-school scholar  at  all;  he  had  never  had  patience  enough  with  his  own 
teacher  to  attend  regularly,  and  did  not  care  enough  for  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible  to  be  a  good  scholar,  but  he  wanted  to  teach  a  class.  There  are  a  good 
many  such  persons  fond  of  having  some  degree  of  prominence  in  some  way. 
He  wanted  to  teach  a  class.  He  asked  permission  to  get  up  a  class  for  him- 
self, as  none  was  offered  in  the  Sunday  school.  He  thought  he  would  hunt  up 
those  who  would  come  in.  Permission  was  given  to  him  at  once.  He  was  told. 
"  You  can  have  your  class  ;  get  it  up  and  teach  it."  He  spoke  to  a  number  of 
boys,  and  then  on  the  following  Sunday  morning  he  came  there  and  looked  in. 
The 'boys  had  given  him  something  of  an  evasive  answer,  I  presume,  a  half- 
promise  that  meant  nothing.  When  he  came  there  in  the  morning  and  looked 
in,  hoping  to  see  his  boys,  he  found  the  pew  where  they  were  to  be  just  as  his 
particular  part  of  it  had  been  when  his  teacher  came  to  teach  him.  The  boys 
were  not  there.  He  went  back  disappointed  with  his  idea  of  teaching.  He 
wanted  to  teach.  He  wanted  that  degree  of  prominence.  There  is  something 
of  that  probably  in  the  most  of  us.  We  like  prominence;  we  like  popularity. 
We  like  to  have  persons  around  us  who  will  recognize  us  as  a  little  higher  and 
wiser  than  they  are.  ,         ,     .  , 

There  is  nothing  of  this  kind  needed  m  what  we  have  before  us  here  to-night. 
As  we  think  of  the  individual  responsibility  of  soul-saving  it  brings  to  our  minds 
just  this:  as  we  have  opportunity  let  each  one  win  one.  There  is  a  "win-one" 
society  in  this  country  somewhere.  I  don't  know  just  where  the  chapters  of  it 
are,  but  there  is  such  a  society,  and  the  very  inspiration  of  it  is  that  one  so  1 
shall  try  to  win  another.  That  is  a  good  thing  to  do.  It  would  be  an  excellent 
thing  to  make  the  effort  right  in  one's  own  household. 

You  would  be  surprised  if  you  were  to  know  how  in  many  professed  Chris- 
tian families  there  are  unconverted  young  people,  who  do  not  go  to  Church  and 
who  are  getting  farther  and  farther  away  from  the  Church,  caring  less  about 
the  Church.  Yet  the  fathers  and  mothers  in  those  families  may  be  very  devoted  to 
their  church;  they  may  go  quite  regularly  themselves ;  they  may  take  part  in 
various  meetings  of  the  church  ;  but  somehow  they  are  not  able  to  reach  those 
right  in  their  own  family.  What  is  the  matter?  They  have  not  gone  about  it 
in  the  right  way  ;  they  have  not  felt  as  deeply  as  they  ought  to  feel,  in  all  human 
probability,  that  it  is  their  duty  to  win  those  who  are  right  there  at  home. 

Make  it  your  business  in  the  various  relations  of  this  life  to  pick  out  one 
here  and  one  there  and  follow  him  up  with  prayer  and  talk  to  him  as  you  have 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  219 

the  opportunity,  and  show  kindness  to  him,  so  that  he  will  know  you  feel  an  in- 
terest in  him. 

You  will  remember  that  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  there  is  a  prophecy 
of  a  grand  time  when  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  be  felt,  and  it  is 
said  that  one  of  the  signs  of  that  time  shall  be  that  the  hearts  of  the  fathers 
shall  turn  to  the  children,  and  the  hearts  of  the  children  shall  turn  to  the 
fathers.  That  would  be  a  most  excellent  result, —  for  fathers  and  mothers  to  feel 
such  an  interest  in  their  own  children  that  they  could  go  to  them  and  confess 
mistakes  that  they  had  made  in  their  bringing-up  ;  that  they  should  acknowl- 
edge the  fact  that  they  have  permitted  their  children  to  go  away  from  them. 

I  remember  a  meeting  that  I  attended  not  long  ago  where  an  old  man  stood 
up  and  said  something  like  this:  "  Mothers  can  have  an  influence  over  their 
children.  Sunday-school  teachers  can  have  an  influence  over  their  children. 
Pastors  can  have  an  influence  over  the  different  families  of  the  congregation; 
but  it  seems  to  me  a  very  difficult  thing  for  the  father  to  talk  to  his  own  sons 
and  daughters  about  religion."  He  said,  "There  seems  to  be  such  a  chasm 
between  them  that  you  can  hardly  pass  over  it."  I  replied  to  him  in  a  few 
words  afterwards  that  there  was  a  time  when  that  was  not  so,  and  in  every 
family  there  is  a  time  when  that  is  not  so.  There  is  a  time  when  the  father,  if  he 
is  religious,  can  talk  to  his  son  or  daughter  about  religion  without  any  trouble. 
He  can  talk  with  them  about  God,  about  the  Lord  Jesus  who  died  for  them ; 
about  what  they  owe  him,  and  about  this  life  that  is  passing;  about  how  much 
he  cares  for  them,  and  about  when  this  life  is  over  he  will  meet  them  in  another 
and  better  world. 

One  of  the  finest  things  in  all  literature  is  the  letter  written  by  Horace  Bush- 
nell  to  his  own  daughter.  He  was  in  Europe  and  seemed  not  to  know  whether 
he  would  return  again.  He  said  to  her,  "I  expect  to  see  you  again;  but  we 
know  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth.  I  hope  to  meet  you  in  that  better  world, 
and  in  order  that  this  may  be  so  we  must  both  be  followers  of  Christ.  You 
must  choose  him  for  your  Saviour,  as  I  have  chosen  him  for  mine."  It  is 
always  possible  in  every  household  for  a  father  or  a  mother  to  talk  to  their  chil- 
dren. Don't  let  the  chasm  form  at  all.  Keep  close  to  your  children  and  to 
your  Sunday-school  classes.  Sometimes  we  see  classes  grow  up  and  the  teach- 
ers keep  right  along  with  them.  The  class  goes  right  into  the  church.  In  other 
classes  the  scholars  seem  to  go  away  from  the  teacher.  The  teacher's  influence 
does  not  seem  to  reach  them.  Somehow  the  teacher  has  not  gotten  hold  of  the 
mind  and  learned  to  control  it.  When  they  are  little  boys  and  girls  then  you 
can  talk  to  them  ;  then  you  can  reach  them  and  bring  influence  to  bear  upon 
them;  and  if  that  is  kept  up  wisely  and  persisted  in  prayerfully  it  will  at  last 
succeed. 

This  individual  responsibility  for  soul-saving  —  we  ought  to  feel  it.  That  is 
the  first  and  most  important  thing;  let  it  be  in  our  hearts  that  it  must  be  done 
—  that  something  must  be  accomplished.  It  is  said  concerning  John  Knox, 
that  he  said,  "  Give  me  Scotland  or  I  die."  He  must  have  that  nation  saved  to 
the  Lord.  We  can  take  a  far  smaller  contract.  We  can  say,  "  Give  me  one 
soul ;  let  me  follow  it  up  ;  let  me  save  it  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  We  ought 
to  feel  this  individual  responsibility.  We  ought  to  follow  up  those  with  whom 
we  come  in  contact.  We  ought  not  to  feel  that  it  is  ours  to  gather  them  to- 
gether, but  we  should  reach  them  individually,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  reached 
them. 

The  Scripture  tells  us  that  "  he  that  winneth  souls  is  wise,  and  they  that  be 
wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament."  It  does  take  true  wisdom 
to  win  a  soul  to  Christ.  You  can  win  a  soul  to  yourself.  You  can  bring  a  lit- 
tle circle  around  you  and  make  them  love  you  and  follow  you,  and  yet  that  may 
not  mean  that  any  one  of  them  has  been  won  to  the  Lord.  That  may  not 
mean  that  any  one  of  them  has  left  the  sin  of  this  world  and  entered  into  the 
service  of  Christ.  You  can  win  people  to  the  Church,  and  still  you  may  not 
have  won  them  to  Christ.  You  can  have  a  great  mass  collected,  and  hold  them 
for  years,  and  then  they  may  melt  away  like  snow  under  the  sun.  You  may 
win  them  to  your  Christian  Endeavor,  and  hold  them  there  for  a  while.     You 


220  Official  Report  of  the 

may  feel  that  it  is  very  interesting  to  keep  them  there  and  have  them  join  in 
your  singing  ;  and  yet  they  may  go  away,  not  one  of  them  having  been  won  to 
Christ. 

"  He  that  winneth  souls  must  be  wise."  He  must  put  himself  out  of  sight. 
He  mast  behold  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  the  soul,  and  he  must  make  the  soul 
feel  that  in  order  to  have  a  hope  of  life  everlasting  it  must  be  by  a  complete 
self-surrender  to  Jesus  as  Saviour,  and  as  Lord  and  as  Master.  Then,  when 
they  have  been  won,  when  they  have  been  gathered  in,  we  treasure  them  up. 
We  think  about  them.  We  pray  for  them.  We  feel  as  the  Apostle  Paul  did 
when  he  said  that  these  were  the  trophies  of  his  work ;  that  he  felt  that  these 
were  the  very  crown  of  his  rejoicing, —  those  who  had  been  saved  through  his 
preaching  and  teaching,  and  brought  to  the  Lord. 

First  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  presiding  officer  at  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  Rev.  Dr. 
M.  F.  Troxell,  of  Springfield,  111.,  who  is  the  vice-president  of  the  Illi- 
nois Union.  The  evening  began  with  a  song  service,  after  which  Rev. 
Edward  Warren,  of  Washington,  led  the  devotional  exercises. 

The  general  topic  for  the  evening  was  "  Our  Work."  The  first 
speaker's  topic  was  "  Duties  To  Be  Done." 

Address  of  Mr.  J.  Edgar  Knipp,  Baltimore,  Md. 

The  common,  every-day  duties  of  life  must  be  performed.  Such  duties  are 
incumbent  upon  us  all,  whether  we  are  officers,  chairmen  of  committees,  or  in- 
dividual active  members  of  a  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  As  a  river  is  com- 
posed of  drops  of  water,  a  dollar  of  pennies,  and  an  hour  of  minutes,  so  life 
consists  of  little  duties,  characters  are  formed  by  daily  actions.  The  student 
who  would  become  a  scholar  does  not  pass  by  one  mighty  bound  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ladder  to  the  top,  but  attains  the  desired  goal  by  performing  heart- 
ily the  daily  tasks  assigned  by  his  instructors.  The  beautiful  rose  which  is  ad- 
mired by  all  does  not  develop  in  one  day  ;  first  a  bunch  of  very  small  leaves 
appears  at  the  end  of  the  stem;  a  few  days  later  the  tip  of  a  tiny  bud  is  seen; 
this  gradually  grows  larger  and  larger,  and  as  the  weeks  go  by  it  changes  into 
a  beautiful  rose.  Its  development  was  slow.  Daily  there  were  supplied  to  it 
moisture  from  the  ground,  light  and  heat  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  material 
from  the  earth,  and  carbonic  acid  gas  from  the  atmosphere.  From  such  com- 
mon, ordinary  materials  the  lovely  rose  was  formed. 

In  the  same  way  the  faithful  performance  of  our  daily  tasks  transforms  our 
characters  into  Christlikeness. 

Of  these  common  daily  duties  which  we  must  fulfil  a  very  important  one  is 
morning  secret  prayer.  As  Endeavorers  we  have  promised  Christ  to  make  it 
the  rule  of  our  lives  to  pray  every  day.  We  all  need  to  talk  over  with  our 
Heavenly  Father  in  the  morning  the  work  of  the  coming  day;  for  the  Christian 
who  waits  until  he  is  about  to  retire  before  he  communes  with  God  is  like  the 
engineer  who  starts  to  make  a  trip  with  a  small  supply  of  water  in  the  boiler, 
and  expects  to  fill  it  up  at  the  end  of  the  trip.  He  is  very  apt  to  need,  before 
he  reaches  his  destination,  more  steam  than  the  water  he  has  will  supply,  and  a 
long  delay  and  great  inconvenience  will  result. 

We  ought  to  tell  our  Father  in  heaven  the  details  of  our  work  and  the  diffi- 
culties which  will  beset  us;  we  need  to  ask  him  for  guidance  and  help  in 
overcoming  the  temptations  and  difficulties  tliat  will  come  upon  us. 

By  thus  telling  God  the  details  of  our  work,  and  by  asking  his  help  in  per- 
forming it,  our  strength  will  be  renewed  and  we  shall  realize  more  fully  and 
more  constantly  the  presence  of  Christ  with  us  during  the  day. 

Many  of  the  failures  in  our  daily  living  are  due  to  the  lack  of  morning  com- 
munion with  God.  As  Christian  workers  we  do  much  sowing,  but  often  we 
reap  small  harvests.  The  cause  is  found  in  the  fact  that  we  have  not  been  a 
sufficient  time  alone  with  God.     The  busier  Christ  was,  the  more  time  he  spent 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  221 

in  prayer.  He  passed  the  whole  night  in  communing  with  his  Father  previous 
to  the  choice  of  the  twelve  apostles  and  the  preaching  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  At  another  time,  when  he  was  busy  preaching  the  Gospel  in  Caper- 
naum, and  he  was  engaged  in  healing  the  throngs  of  sick  persons  which  pressed 
about  him,  it  is  recorded  of  him  that  he  "arose  a  great  while  before  day  and 
went  apart  into  a  solitary  place  and  there  prayed." 

Sometimes  when  we  have  a  very  busy  day's  work  before  us,  we  are  apt  to 
hurry  through  our  morning  prayer.  But  it  is  in  just  such  times  as  this  that  we 
ought  to  draw  very  near  to  our  Father,  for  if  we  do  not,  the  tendency  will  be  to 
forget  him  during  the  day,  when  we  are  actively  engaged  in  our  business,  or 
household  duties,  or  even  in  Christian  work. 

Martin  Luther,  upon  being  asked  one  time  by  a  friend  what  his  plans  were 
for  the  following  day,  replied,  "  Work,  work  from  early  until  late.  In  fact,  I 
have  so  much  to  do  that  I  shall  spend  the  first  three  hours  in  prayer." 

He  did  not  maintain  the  heavenly  life  in  his  soul  without  continually  sepa- 
rating himself  from  man  and  communing  with  his  Father.  If  he  needed  such 
secret  prayer  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  how  much  more  do  we  !  As  he  did,  we 
ought  also  to  spend  much  time  in  secret  prayer.  Perhaps  many  of  us  have 
heard  of  J.  Hudson  Taylor's  method.  As  he  is  kept  busy  at  work  continually 
during  the  day,  and  since  there  is  always  some  one  wishing  to  confer  with  him 
about  the  work,  his  habit  is  to  rise  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing in  order  to  spend  two  or  three  hours  alone  with  God.  Is  it  any  wonder  that 
his  life  is  so  fruitful  ? 

In  addition  to  daily,  intimate,  morning,  secret  prayer,  we  must  commune 
with  God  by  reading  his  Word.  He  who  enters  upon  a  day's  work  after  praying 
but  without  reading  God's  Word  has  omitted  the  more  valuable  part  of  his  pri- 
vate devotions.  It  is  more  important  that  God  speak  to  us  than  that  we  speak 
to  him.  This  is  what  he  does  when  we  eartiestly  and  reverently  search  the  Scrip- 
tures. Like  Samuel,  we  then  say,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth."  We 
must  come  for  a  personal  message  as  though  the  Bible  had  been  written  for  no 
one  but  ourselves. 

In  what  spirit  do  you  inquire  at  the  post-office  at  your  church  headquarters 
for  mail  in  the  morning  .?  Uon't  you  ask  hoping  to  get  a  letter  for  yourself?  It 
may  be  that  you  inquire  also  for  the  mail  of  several  friends;  but  how  pleased 
you  are  if  you  receive  a  personal  message  for  yourself!  As  you  stand  at  the 
counter,  you  see  a  young  lady  come  up  who  is  for  the  first  time  takmg  a  long 
trip  from  home.  As  you  watch  her,  you  see  how  anxious  she  is  to  get  a  letter 
from  father  or  mother,  or  perhaps  from  her  most  intimate  friend.  If  she  re- 
ceives a  letter  how  glad  she  seems  to  be  !  Her  face  is  wreathed  in  smiles.  In 
the  same  spirit  the  Bible  should  be  read  by  us.  To  it  we  should  come  desiring, 
hoping  for,  and  expecting  a  personal  message  from  our  Heavenly  Father.  Al- 
though we  may  receive  some  lessons  for  our  Sunday-school  scholars,  if  we  are 
teachers,  or  helpful  thoughts  for  others  to  be  mentioned  in  the  Christian  En- 
deavor meetings,  yet  we  ought  always  to  be  sure  to  secure  God's  personal  mes- 
sage to  ourselves.  In  order  to  do  this  we  must  read  with  the  prayer  of  David 
on  our  lips:  "  Open  thou  ?n2ne  eyes  that  /  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of 
thy  law."  With  our  natural  eyes  we  can  not  see  the  bones  of  our  hands;  but 
the  X-rays  can  readily  disclose  them.  So  the  Holy  Spirit  can  reveal  to  us  a 
personal  message  when  of  ourselves  we  would  not  see  it.  The  Spirit  must  un- 
fold to  us  the  Scriptures.     He  alone  can  make  known  to  us  God's  message. 

As  we  pray  and  read  the  Bible  daily,  new  duties  and  responsibilities  will  be 
revealed  to  us.  To  these  we  must  yield  a  whole-hearted  obedience.  What  we 
learn  we  must  put  into  practice.  Like  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter  we  must 
be  in  the  hands  of  God.  As  it  is  shaped  and  molded  according  to  the  potter's 
wishes,  so  we  should  submit  ourselves  entirely  to  God,  to  be  molded  into 
vessels  fit  for  the  Master's  use.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  at  one  particular  time 
we  make  a  complete  consecration  of  ourselves  to  God.  We  must  always  be  on 
the  altar,  ready  to  do  God's  will  as  it  is  revealed  to  us. 

Our  daily  prayer  and  Bible  reading  will  help  us  realize  constantly  that  we 
are  not  our  own,  but  that  we  have  been  bought  with  a  price.     We  shall  be 


222  Official  Report  of  the 

brought  to  recognize  God's  ownership  of  ourselves,  so  that  we  shall  not  ask  the 
question,  "  How  little  can  I  do  and  yet  remain  a  follower  of  Christ  ?  "  or  "  Can  I 
do  this  and  still  be  a  Christian?"  but  rather  we  shall  want  to  know:  "Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?  "  And  as  he  makes  it  known  to  us  in  his  Word  and 
by  his  Spirit  through  prayer,  we  shall  willingly  and  gladly  yield  ourselves  to 
God  and  shall  be  ready  to  do  whatsoever  our  Lord  the  King  shall  appoint. 

It  will  not  be  long  before  we  learn  that  confession  of  Christ  with  the  mouth 
is  one  of  our  duties.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  lead  upright  Christian  lives. 
The  secret  of  our  lives  must  be  interpreted  to  others  with  the  mouth.  Jesus 
himself  did  this.  "  He  did  not  trust  to  the  silent  influence  of  his  life  ;  he  wanted 
men  distinctly  to  understand  what  the  root  and  aim  of  his  life  was." 

"  In  his  teaching  not  only  did  he  reveal  the  will  of  his  Father  and  show  what 
the  Father  is,  but  he  also  continually  spoke  of  his  own  personal  relation  to  the 
Father.  Time  after  time  he  told  men  that  he  came  as  a  Son  sent  from  the 
Father,  that  he  depended  upon  and  owed  everything  to  him,  that  he  only  sought 
the  Father's  glory,  and  that  all  his  happiness  was  to  please  the  Father."  As 
Christ  acknowledged  to  men  his  dependence  upon  the  Father,  so  we  must  con- 
fess our  dependence  upon  Christ. 

May  our  experience  be  not  like  that  of  a  professor  in  a  leading  college.  He 
says,  "  When  I  was  a  young  man,  I  thought  other  young  men  would  resent 
any  appeal  I  might  make  to  them  in  regard  to  their  personal  relations  to  Christ." 

How  many  of  us,  when  we  draw  a  glass  of  water  from  the  spigots  in  our 
homes,  think  of  the  source  of  the  water  in  the  mountain  springs,  and  of  the 
pipes  hidden  under  the  ground  which  convey  it  to  our  homes?  Or  when  we 
light  the  gas  in  our  rooms,  do  we  think  of  the  coal  which  has  been  dug  from 
the  depths  of  the  earth,  and  from  which  the  gas  is  made  by  means  of  fire  ?  In  the 
same  way  our  unconverted  friends  may  see  that  streams  of  influence  for  good 
flow  from  us,  for  Christ  said,  "  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  scripture  hath 
said,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."  From  us  also  there  may 
shine  forth  a  light,  for  it  is  written  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  The  source  of 
our  light  is  God's  Word.  We  dig  from  the  mines  of  God's  truth  precious  ores, 
and  bring  them  to  the  surface,  where  they  are  transformed  into  light  by  the  fire 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  light  which  shines  through  our  lives  and  the  streams 
of  good  influence  which  flow  forth  from  us  are  seen  by  our  unsaved  friends,  but 
they  do  not  think  of  their  source. 

My  wife's  cousin,  a  young  fellow  not  yet  of  age,  lived  in  our  house  for  six 
months.  My  dread  of  meddling  was  such  that  I  never  asked  him  to  be  present 
at  family  worship,  or  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject  of  religion.  He  fell  into  the 
company  of  a  wild  set,  and  was  rapidly  going  to  the  bad.  When  I  reasoned 
with  him  I  spoke  of  Christ. 

"  Do  you  call  yourself  a  Christian  ?  "  he  asked,  assuming  an  astonished  look. 

"  I  hope  so,"  I  replied. 

"  But  you  are  not.  If  you  were.  He  must  be  your  best  friend.  Yet  I  have 
lived  in  your  house  for  six  months  and  you  have  never  once  mentioned  his 
name  to  me.     No,  he  is  nothing  to  you." 

May  we  never  receive  such  a  rebuke  as  this,  but  let  us  rather  speak  out  for 
Jesus,  and  tell  our  friends  the  blessedness  of  Christ's  friendship. 

To  the  every-day  duties  of  prayer,  Bible  reading,  sul^mission  to  God's  will, 
and  open  confession  of  Christ,  every  Christian  must  add  that  of  support  of  his 
own  church.  Comment  upon  this  duty  of  church  support  is  hardly  necessary, 
for  everyone  already  realizes  its  importance.  If  anyone  is  not  a  loyal  church 
member  after  taking  the  pledge,  he  is  not  a  true  Christian  Endeavorer. 

These  five  duties  I  have  mentioned  must  be  performed.  We  may  talk  of 
them,  consider  and  meditate  upon  them,  but  we  must  not  stop  there.  They 
must  be  done.  Let  us  remember  them  in  a  somewhat  different  order  by  the 
letters  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  beginning  Scripture  quotations: — 

Yield  yourselves  unto  God, 

Praying  always. 

Search  the  Scriptures. 

Confess  with  your  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Enter  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving  and  into  his  courts  with  praise. 


Fiftecntii  International  Convention.  223 

Probably  by  many  present  these  duties  are  already  considered  privileges; 
but  still,  to  all  of  us,  they  are  duties  to  be  done.  However,  if  we  enter  upon 
them  heartily,  it  will  not  be  long  before  they  will  become  pleasures  as  well  as 
duties.  According  to  a  fable  related  by  Dr.  J.  R.  Miller,  birds  were  first  made 
without  any  wings.  Then  God  made  the  wings,  and  put  them  down  before  the 
wingless  birds,  and  said  to  them,  "  Come,  take  up  these  burdens  and  bear 
them."  The  birds  had  lovely  plumage  and  sweet  voices;  they  could  sing,  and 
their  feathers  gleamed  in  the  sunshine,  but  they  could  not  soar  in  the  air.  At 
first  they  hesitated  when  bidden  to  take  up  the  burdens  that  lay  at  their  feet, 
but  soon  they  obeyed,  and  taking  up  the  wings  on  their  beaks,  laid  them  on 
their  shoulders  to  carry  them.  For  a  little  while  the  load  seemed  heavy  and 
hard  to  bear;  but  presently,  as  they  went  on  carrying  the  burdens,  folding 
them  over  their  hearts,  the  wings  grew  fast  to  their  little  bodies,  and  soon  they 
discovered  how  to  use  them,  and  were  lifted  by  them  up  into  the  air.  The 
weights  became  wings. 

This  is  a  parable.  We  are  the  wingless  birds,  and  the  common  tasks  and 
duties  of  support  of  our  own  church,  confession  of  Christ,  submission  to  his 
will,  Bible  reading,  and  prayer  are  the  pinions  by  which  God  will  lift  us  up  and 
carry  us  heavenward.  If  they  are  still  burdens  and  weights,  let  us  lift  them 
cheerfully;  let  us  bear  them  with  love  in  our  hearts,  and  they  will  become  a 
source  of  blessing  and  help  to  us.  On  them  we  will  rise  and  soar  towards 
God. 

After  the  close  of  Mr.  Knipp's  address,  the  choir  sang  the  well-known 
hymn,  "  Banner  of  the  Cross,"  and  then  Rev.  A.  F.  Richardson,  of 
Grafton,  W.  Va.,  was  introduced  to  speak  on  "  Dangers  To  Be  Encoun- 
tered." 

Address  of  Rev.  A.  F.  Richardson,  Grafton,  W.  Va. 

Endeavorers  and  Friends:— Wi  must  not  imagine  for  a  moment  that  the 
most  ardent  and  consecrated  adherents  and  supporters  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement  have  ever  unwisely  assumed  that  such  a  mighty  agency 
for  good  would  go  unchallenged  and  be  exempt  from  bitter  opposition  and 
grave  dangers.  Such  at  least  has  been  the  experience  of  all  grand  movements 
looking  to  the  exaltation  of  society,  the  salvation  of  men,  and  the  glory  of  God; 
and  in  proportion  as  the  movement  has  been  nurtured  by  the  good,  and  blessed 
of  God,  have  the  agencies  of  evil  combined  to  check  its  influence  and  minimize 
its  power. 

I  can  but  glance  at  the  dangers  this  evening,  leaving  to  the  Society  to  weigh 
their  importance,  and  to  a  consecrated  Christian  Endeavor  conscience  to  sup- 
ply the  remedy. 

I.  The  danger  of  unlawful  personal  ambition.  Paul  says,  "  If  a  man 
strive  for  masteries,  yet  is  he  not  crowned,  except  he  strive  lawfully."  There 
are  summits  to  be  reached,  but  the  paths  leading  thereto  are  ofttimes  narrow 
and  demand  "  grit  and  grace,"  and  the  Endeavorer  needs  to  be  met  at  the  very 
base  of  this  ascent  by  that  safeguard  of  our  Lord's  Prayer,  "  Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 

Remember  that  to  be  a  Christian  Endeavorer  does  not  secure  to  you  an 
indemnity  on  sin  ;  does  not  secure  to  you  absolute  control  over  those  passions 
of  the  human  soul  that  are  seeking  continually  the  ascendency,  and  which,  if 
unchecked,  will  dwarf  into  insignificance  the  lawful  ambition  and  holy  enthu- 
siasm which  marked  the  beginning  of  your  service.  We  must  not  forget  that 
association  with  the  blessed  Master  himself  was  not  sufficient  to  banish 
selfishness  from  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  disciples,  who  were  unduly  con- 
cerned about  the  place  of  honor  in  his  kingdom.  History,  sacred  and  profane, 
teems  with  instances  where  principles,  grand  and  glorious  in  their  conception, 
have  been  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  unholy  ambition  and  inordinate  desire. 
Remember  we  are  "saved  to  serve ;  "  and  he  serves  Christian  Endeavor  best 
who  serves  Christ  the  best;  and  truest  service  to  Jesus  Christ  often  means  the 
lowest  place  in  his  kingdom;  and,  thank  God,  the  lowest  place  in  the  earthly 


224  Official  Report  of  the 

kingdom  may  mean  the  highest  place  in  the  kingdom  of  glory.     "  I  am  among 
you  as  he  that  serveth  ;  "  and  he  washed  their  feet. 

2.  The  danger  of  relaxation.  We  can  not  believe,  as  some  one  has  ungra- 
ciously expressed  it,  that  "the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  will  prove  a 
boomerang  to  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ."'  Christian  Endeavor  has  already 
proven  her  mission  divine.  Nor  do  we  believe  that  there  can  be  any  rebound 
sulificient  to  cause  even  a  serious  wavering  in  the  ranks  of  this  mighty  army 
battling  for  Christ  and  his  Church  against  the  hosts  of  sin;  but  there  may  be 
an  unhealthy  stagnation  of  the  tributaries,  the  loosening  of  the  tension,  the 
unbending  of  the  energies,  a  relaxation  of  effort,  a  shrinking  of  that  fervid, 
soul-inspiring,  and  life-giving  power  which  has  made  Christian  Endeavor  an 
almost  irresistible  force  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world  since  its  inception. 
God's  law  of  growth  and  development  must  be  applied  zealously  here  as  in  the 
other  departments  of  Church  work ;  the  activities  of  yesterday  will  not  suffice 
for  the  needs  of  to-day;  past  achievements  and  past  successes,  while  helpful 
and  inspiring  for  the  conflict  yet  fiercely  waging,  are  not  a  safe  passport  to 
victory  to-day  or  to-morrow  ;  and  not  until  "  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  become 
the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,"  dare  the  soldiers  in  this  army  of 
God  relax  their  vigilance,  allow  their  ardor  to  cool  or  courage  to  wane,  or  lay 
down  their  weapons  of  spiritual  warfare. 

3.  TJie  danger  of  sacrificing  world-wide  endeavor  to  the  narrow  limit 
of  sectarian  bigotry.  There  is  a  tendency,  mainly  individual,  to  sever  the 
relation  borne  by  the  denomination  to  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  as  a 
whole  ;  having  received  a  baptism  of  Christian  Endeavor  grace,  to  withdraw 
and  live  in  seclusion  on  the  gracious  fruits  of  that  baptism  ;  a  feeling  of  unrest 
and  alarm  lest  the  distinctive  denominationalism  be  swallowed  up  of  the 
broader  interdenominational  fellowship.  Well,  if  it  be  a  swallowing  like  that 
of  the  whale  with  Jonah,  why  not  ?  Jonah  became  a  tenfold  better  man  by  the 
operation,  and  it  served,  doubtless,  to  increase  the  dimensions  of  the  whale  ;  and 
as  long  as  it  works  that  way  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  God's  children  every- 
where have  great  reason  to  rejoice.  But  we  hope  that  those  received  and 
nourished  in  the  bosom  of  this  splendid  fellowship  will  appreciate  the  necessity 
of  perfect  digestion  and  assimilate  all  that  is  true  and  good  and  Christlike, 
and  not  serve  simply  as  an  emetic,  as  in  the  case  of  Jonah. 

The  past  phenomenal  success  as  well  as  the  future  progress  and  glory  of 
Christian  Endeavor  rests  upon  its  fidelity  to  this  interdenominational  fellowship 
idea  ;  and  it  is  this  idea  brought  so  prominently  before  the  eyes  of  the  unsaved 
masses  that  has  done  more  perhaps  than  all  other  methods  combined  to  com- 
mend this  movement  to  the  thoughtful  and  earnest  consideration  of  those  who 
have  hitherto  looked  with  at  least  suspicion  upon  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ, 
apparently  hopelessly  divided,  and  ofttimes  bitterly  at  war  over  creeds  and 
dogmas,  necessary  perhaps,  but  not  essential  to  the  salvation  of  a  single  human 
soul.  The  creed  of  Christian  Endeavor  may  be  expressed  in  one  short  sentence, 
"  Christ  and  him  crucified." 

4.  The  danger  of  entangling  alliances.  As  true  as  the  needle  to  the 
pole  must  Christian  Endeavor  be  to  its  prime  object  and  mission :  go  its 
divinely  appointed  way,  using  its  divinely  appointed  means.  Christian  En- 
deavor to  be  true  to  her  mission  must  have  no  affiliation  with  party  organization ; 
as  such  she  cannot  afford  to  risk  her  future  upon  the  uncertain  wave  of  human 
aspirations  and  human  passions,  to  be  borne  helplessly  along  upon  its  crest 
of  fierce  fanaticism,  but  girded  in  the  strength  of  God.  guided  in  the  wisdom 
of  God,  her  watchword  is,  "  Forward,"  in  the  truth  and  freedom  of  God.  And  we 
place  our  hearty  seal  of  approval  upon  the  attitude  of  President  Clark  and  the 
officers  of  the  United  Society  in  the  recent  attempts  to  draw  the  Christian  En- 
deavor host  into  the  whirl  of  politics.  To  suffer  this  is  to  rob  this  movement 
of  its  distinctively  Christian  character,  create  confusion  in  its  ranks,  and  place 
it  at  the  mercy  of  designing  and  unscrupulous  politicians;  not  that  those  who 
seek  such  alliance  may  not  be  thoroughly  honest  and  conscientiously  zealous 
in  their  desire  of  such  union,  but  they  are  unfortunately  misguided  in  their 
judgment  of  Christian  Endeavor  methods  and  principles. 


Fifteenth  Intemational  Convention.  225 

Christian  Endeavor  stands  for  Christian  citizenship,  for  the  abolition  of  the 
saloon,  for  reform  in  every  department  of  our  civic  life,  for  the  rescue  of  the 
Sabbath  and  the  salvation  of  all  that  is  good  and  pure  and  noble  in  man;  but 
she  must  arm  for  the  conflict  and  enter  the  arena  untrammelled  by  party  feel- 
ing, party  whim,  and  party  lash,  the  slave  only  of  a  consecrated  Christian  En- 
deavor conscience,  and  casting  "for  God  and  home  and  native  land"  a  conse- 
crated Christian  Endeavor  ballot. 

Let  the  consciousness  that  there  are  dangers  to  be  encountered  in  this 
stupendous  but  heaven-guarded  task  of  winning  the  world  for  Christ  not  dis- 
may, nor  frighten,  but  serve  to  nerve  and  strengthen  for  the  combat,  so  that 
when  the  final  struggle  may  come,  whether  we  live  to  share  its  triumph  or  not, 
we  may  go  in  the  sweet  consciousness  that  we  have  never  lowered  the  standard 
of  Christian  Endeavor.  And  it  may  be  that  some  of  us,  who  may  never  live  to 
share  the  blessing  of  another  convention,  like  Moses  of  old,  God  will  lead  in 
spirit  upon  the  mountain-top  and  allow  our  consecrated  vision  to  sweep  this 
land,  saved,  purified,  and  glorified  through  the  faith,  sacrifice,  and  service  of 
Christian  Endeavor. 

The  last  topic  w^as  "  Encouragements  To  Be  Given." 

Address  of  Rev.  William  Justin  Marsha,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

I.  Encourageitients  to  be  drawn  f7-o)n  the  7uork  already  done.  It  is  proper 
for  us  to  look  at  the  past,  to  take  heart  for  grace  out  of  it,  as  well  as  to  avoid 
its  dangers.  In  one  sense,  truly,  we  are  to  ''forget  the  things  that  are  behind," 
but  in  another  sense  we  may  very  properly  remember  them.  If  we  grow  more 
humble  in  our  opinion  of  ourselves,  and  more  confident  in  our  conception  of 
Christ,  by  looking  at  the  way  over  which  he  hath  led  us,  then  it  is  our  bounden 
duty,  as  it  is  our  blessed  privilege,  to  consider  the  past.  When  we  come  to 
consider  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  we  are  amazed  and  overwhelmed 
by  the  amount  of  good  that  has  already  been  done.  It  is  a  good  of  a  distinct- 
ive and  uniform  kind,  as  I  have  already  remarked;  but  it  is  wide  in  its  charity, 
and  many-branched  in  its  blessings.  Take  any  number  of  The  Golden  Rule,  or 
look  at  any  denominational  paper  in  these  days,  and  you  will  be  astonished  to 
observe  in  how  many  practical  directions  the  work  has  already  spread  and  is 
ever  extending. 

A  movement  which  lays  hold  upon  so  many  diverse  things  as  mothers'  meet- 
ings, reading-rooms  for  sailors,  selling  Bibles,  helping  shirt-makers,  paving 
streets,  and  putting  the  Bible  into  public  schools  has  surely  shown  that  it  has  a 
right  to  be,  and  in  its  past  has  manifested  undeniable  encouragements  for  its 
future. 

In  addition  to  all  this  we  would  need  to  see  how  the  latent  power  of  the 
Church  has  been  brought  out,  how  cordiality  has  been  increased,  how  denom- 
inations have  been  united  in  spirit  if  not  in  letter,  and  how  in  tens  of  thousands 
of  churches,  at  home  and  abroad,  the  mystic  initials  "C.  E."  have  come  — as  one 
pastor  has  expressed  it  —  "  to  stand  for  the  five  points  of  modern  doctrine,  as 
follows:  (i)  Christ  exalted;  (2)  Church  educated;  (3)  Christians  elevated;  (4) 
Continents  evangelized  ;  (5)  Christendom  everywhere."  When  in  Rome  I  did 
as  few  Romans  do.  I  went  out  on  the  Appian  Way  to  the  side  of  the  Appii- 
Forum  and  the  Three  Taverns,  of  which  we  read  in  the  twenty-eighth  chapter 
in  the  book  of  Acts.  I  pictured  to  myself  what  occurred  there  on  that  memo- 
rable day  when  St.  Paul,  having  landed  at  Puteoli  and  having  taken  all  the 
weary  journey  from  that  seaport,  was  met  here  by  some  of  the  earnest  Christians 
of  Rome.  The  brethren  had  heard  of  the  worn  traveller's  approach,  and  they 
went  as  far  as  the  Forum  and  the  Three  Taverns  to  welcome  him.  They  put 
their  arms  around  him  and  gave  him  such  whispered  encouragement  as  the 
warm  Christian  heart  knows  how  to  utter.  They  told  of  the  faithful  work  and 
witnessing  that  had  been  done  in  Rome,  and  he  in  his  turn  told  them  of  what 
had  been  accomplished  in  Cesarea  and  Jerusalem  and  upon  the  Steppes  of  Asia 
Minor.      Then  the  record  is  that    Paul  "  thanked   God   and  took  courage." 


226  Official  Report  of  the 

Tidings  of  what  had  been  done  lifted  up  his  heart  in  the  hope  that  much  more 
might  be  done.  So  it  may  be  with  us.  f^ar  be  it  from  me  to  seem  merely  to 
glory  in  the  past  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement;  but  the  sunshine  of 
God's  favor  on  the  phenomenal  landscape  we  have  left  may  cheer  us  for  a 
further  progress. 

II.  Encou?-age7iients  to  be  drawn  from  the  results  atiticipated.  In  some 
lines  it  is  dangerous  to  anticipate  results.  "  The  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  and 
men  gang  aft  a-gley."  This  is  when  God  is  not  taken  into  account;  but  when 
God  is  on  our  side  and  God's  promises  have  been  pledged  in  our  support,  we 
are  safe  to  anticipate  results  and  draw  encouragement  from  our  anticipations. 
What  are  the  prospects.?  I  will  answer  you  as  that  splendid  old  missionary, 
Adoniram  Judson,  did,  when  asked  the  same  question.  He  had  been  toiling  in 
darkest  heathendom  for  many  years,  and  apparently  there  had  been  few  results. 
"  Prospects.-"'  he  repeated,  "  They  are  bright  as  the  promises  of  God."  This 
I  would  say  to  you.  Expectancy  is  the  proper  thing  in  prayer;  why  should  it 
not  be  equally  proper  in  Christian  service  ?  The  first  verse  of  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews  tells  us  that  faith  is  the  actual "  substance  of  things  hoped 
for."  Hence  by  faith  we  may  lay  hold  upon  the  real  substance  of  the  triumphs 
yet  to  be.  Joab's  addresses  to  his  men  on  the  field  of  battle  are  even  more 
thrilling  than  Napoleon's.  Take,  for  instance,  2  Sam.x.  11,  12.  The  Syrians 
and  Ammonites  had  massed  themselves  against  him  and  his  army,  but  Joab 
was  not  afraid.  He  went  down  the  line  and  cried  out  to  his  soldiers,  "  Be  of 
good  courage  and  let  us  play  the  men."  He  counted  upon  God's  help,  and  his 
heart  was  lifted  up  in  sureness  of  victory.  Christian  Endeavor  has  passed  out 
of  an  experiment  into  a  certainty.  The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  its  last  session  simply  voiced  the  overwhelming  victory  which  the 
young  people  by  their  simplicity  and  faith  have  obtained  in  the  councils  of  the 
elders.  The  General  Synod  of  the  Church  which  I  represent  entertains  like 
sentiments,  and  I  fancy  that  even  the  General  Conference  of  the  M.  E,  Church 
has  a  lurking  love  for  the  movement  and  will  yet  come  around.  What  results 
may  we  expect?  Along  the  line  of  Christian  citizenship,  a  platform  in  which 
Christ's  name  and  Christ's  spirit  are  honored.  Along  the  Ime  of  purification 
of  the  cities,  a  thousand  Parkhursts  and  enough  assistants  to  place  one,  at 
least,  in  every  centre  of  population.  Along  the  line  of  temperance,  including 
the  deadly  cigarette,  the  utter  discouragement  and  destruction  of  both  tasting 
and  traffic.  Along  the  line  of  Sabbath  observance,  including  the  use  of  the  be- 
guiling bicycle  on  that  day,  a  holier  reverence  for  the  day  and  a  truer  rest  in 
God.  Along  the  line  of  foreign  missions,  the  Gospel  to  be  preached  as  a  wit- 
ness to  all  nations  early  in  the  coming  century.  Along  the  lines  of  home 
missions.  Christian  Endeavor  churches  to  be  built  by  Christian  Endeavor  off er- 
ings  in  all  denominations,  as  they  are  being  built  in  the  one  I  represent.  Is 
this  anticipation  too  rosy  ?  I  am  certain  it  is  not,  if,  relying  upon  the  grace  of 
God,  the  Christian  Endeavorers  unite  in  their  multitude  and  in  their  might  to 
do  the  work  which  the  Master  has  put  into  their  hands. 

III.  Encouragements  to  be  drawn  from  the  persofial  presence  of  the  Trinity 
in  us.  One  of  the  notable  things  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  that  it 
reveals  each  person  of  the  Trinity  as  residing  and  operating  "/«  ;//<?."  "  They 
glorified  God  in  me  "  (Gal.  i.  24) ;  "  To  reveal  his  Son  in  me  "  (Gal.  i.  16) :  "  The 
same  Spirit  was  mighty  in  me  "  (Gal.  ii.  8).  As  with  Paul,  so  with  each  one  of 
us.  The  humblest  Christian  may  have  this  sweetest  and  highest  of  all  bless- 
ings, "the  Trinity  in  me." 

I.  The  Father  in  us.  What  an  encouragement  it  is  that  we  may  count  upon 
the  inflow  of  the  Divine  Life,  constant,  peaceful,  and  strengthening,  in  all  the 
ways  and  perplexities  of  service!  There  are  some  beautiful  incidents  of  Scrip- 
ture which  illustrate  and  enforce  this  truth.  In  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Judges, 
for  example,  we  have  an  account  of  the  distressing  conflict  between  the  people 
of  Israel  and  the  children  of  Benjamin,  and  at  the  twenty-second  verse  we  read 
that  the  former  "encouraged  themselves  in  the  Lord;'''  that  is  to  say,  by  prayer 
and  fasting  tliey  opened  their  hearts  to  receive  the  inflow  of  strength  and 
peace  from  God  the  Father  of  all.     We  read  of  a  dark  time  in  Daniel's  life 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  227 

when  the  people  gathered  themselves  into  angry  knots  and  scowled  upon  him 
and  spake  of  stoning  him.  (i  Sam.  xxx.  6.)  Then  David  did  what  it  is  our 
privilege  to  do, —  turned  his  back  upon  his  enemies  and  his  face  unto  his  God. 
•'  David  encouraged  himself  in  the  Lord  his  God."  He  pulled  himself  together; 
he  toughened  his  inner  confidence  and  composure  by  receiving  the  power  of 
the  Divine  indwelling.  Referring  to  these  experiences  of  his,  David  wrote  two 
of  his  most  striking  Psalms.  In  one  of  them  he  said,  "Wait  on  the  Lord:  be  of 
good  courage,  and  he  shall  strengthen  thine  heart:  wait,  I  say,  on  the  Lord." 
(Ps.  xxvii.  14.)  This  was  written  in  the  wilderness,  when  he  was  fleeing  from 
Absalom,  and  was  exiled  from  God's  house;  yet  in  those  trying  circumstances 
he  had  but  to  look  up  and  breathe  into  his  heart  the  Father's  strength  in  order 
to  be  encouraged.  In  the  other  Psalm  he  says,  "  Be  of  good  courage,  and  he 
shall  strengthen  your  heart,  all  ye  that  hope  in  the  Lord."  (Ps.  xxxi.  24.)  This 
was  written  in  a  time  of  great  anguish  and  danger,  when  he  had  crossed  the 
Jordan  and  battle  was  imminent.  Oh,  may  we  thus  also  realize  that  the  Father 
is  within  !     Let  us  wait  upon  him  there. 

2.  The  Son  in  us.  Paul,  as  we  have  seen,  gloried  in  the  fact  that  God's 
Son  was  revealed  in  him.  This  rejoicing  was  based  upon  the  promise  which 
Jesus  had  made.  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words  :  and  my  Father 
will  love  him.  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 
(John  xiv.  23.)  This  is  a  blessed  promise,  but  there  is  a  more  blessed  one  still. 
It  is  implied  in  what  Paul  says,  "  Most  gladly  therefore  will  I  rather  glory  in 
my  infirmities,  that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me."     (2  Cor.  xii.  9.) 

The  Word  here  really  means  that  the  power  of  Christ  "  tabernacles  upon  " 
the  working  Christian,  folds  a  tent  of  hallowed  protection  and  sure  blessing 
over  all  his  way  and  work.  If  this  is  ijiore  blessed,  we  may  go  on  to  tlie  tnost 
blessed  of  all.  "  My  little  children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again  until  Christ 
be  formed  in  you."  (Gal.  iv.  19.)  The  thought  here  is  so  holy  and  sacred  that 
one  hesitates  to  speak  upon  it.  It  is  just  this  :  as  Christ  by  tlie  overshadowing 
of  his  Spirit  was  formed  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  so  is  the  Christ-life 
formed  in  our  hearts  by  the  same  Spirit  of  God.  And  it  rests  with  us  whether 
the  little  babe  shall  be  dwarfed  or  shall  grow  to  his  full  strength;  shall  be 
crippled  or  shall  be  able  to  exert  his  full  power.  What  a  strange  ability  we 
have  to  interfere  with  the  growth  of  the  Christ-life  within  us  !  No  mother,  how- 
ever vile  or  impatient  she  may  be,  is  able  to  will,  or  would  desire  to  will,  that 
her  child  be  born  crippled,  or  deformed,  or  lacking  in  some  sense,  or  limb.  But 
we  can  will  that  Christ  shall  be  deformed  and  crippled  within  us.  By  our 
frivolity  or  our  impatience  or  by  our  thoughtlessness  we  may  so  impede  his 
growth  that  he  shall  not  be  able  to  do  for  us  and  be  in  us  what  he  desires.  But 
what  an  encouragement,  what  an  uplift,  what  a  heartening,  to  have  Christ  fully 
formed  in  us  ! 

3.  The  Spirit  in  us.  Webster  gives  as  synonyms  of  the  word"  encourage," 
"  inspirit,"  "  comfort,"  and  "  strengthen."  We  will  see  at  once  how  all  these 
apply  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  the  "  paraclete,"  or  "  strengthener," —  translated 
"comforter"  m  the  authorized  version, —  who  abides  ever  in  our  hearts.  I  need 
hardly  say  to  you  that  living  as  we  do  in  the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it 
is  our  privilege  to  be  so  filled  with  the  Spirit  that  we  shall  be  in  constant 
strength  and  encouragement. 

Have  you  ever  read  attentively  the  little  sermon  which  Rahab  preached  to 
the  spies?  You  will  find  it  in  Joshua  ii.  9-13, —  a  sermon  of  only  five  verses, 
but  full  of  spiritual  truth.  The  point  I  would  take  from  her  discourse,  to-night, 
is  the  fact  she  mentions  that  her  countrymen,  when  they  heard  of  the  approach 
of  the  people  of  Israel,  had  "  no  spirit  left  in  them,"  consequently  no  "  courage" 
remained.  That  is  the  trouble  too  often  with  us.  No  spirit,  no  Holy  Spirit, 
abides  in  us  "to  will  and  to  do;  "  consequently  we  find  ourselves  in  desperation 
and  dismay.  We  have  grieved  him  away  because  of  our  inattentions  and  sins; 
consequently  we  have  no  power. 

I  note  a  very  significant  scene  described  in  Ezra  x.  1-4.  The  people  were  in 
despondency  ;  their  power  was  gone,  their  courage  departed,  the  work  of  refor- 
mation in  worship  in  the  temple  delayed,  and  all  was  perplexity  and  wrangle. 


228  Official  Report  of  the 

In  that  juncture  Ezra  calls  them  together,  and  after  praying  with  them  and  for 
them,  charges  that  something  is  wrong  with  their  lives.  This  boldness  on  the 
part  of  the  preacher  wins  a  satisfactory  result,  for  they  confess  their  sins,  not 
in  general,  but  their  sin  in  particular.  Then  courageously  they  put  that  sin 
away,  and  power  and  cheerfulness  instantly  return  to  them  ;  and  Ezra,  with  en- 
thusiasm breaking  over  his  face,  cries  out,  "  Arise,  be  of  good  courage  and 
do !"  And  I  note  another  scene  described  in  2  Chron.  xv.  3-8.  For  a  long 
season  the  Israelites  had  been  without  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God  and  with- 
out a  teacher  or  priest  and  without  law.  Troubles  fall  upon  them,  and  then 
they  feel  out  after  God,  if  haply  they  may  find  him.  Asa  is  their  king,  and  with 
wonderful  faithfulness  he  put  away  the  idols,  and  then  the  hearts  of  the  people 
were  strengthened.  In  the  eighth  verse  it  is  said  :  "  He  took  courage,  and  put 
away  the  abominable  idols."  Oh,  it  takes  courage  with  us  to  dethrone  the  idols 
which  so  often  have  robbed  us  of  power  and  of  peace  !  May  the  Holy  Spirit 
show  us  where  the  lurking  sin  is  that  prevents  him  fully  entering  in,  to  give  us 
the  best  of  all  encouragements.  I  think  usually  the  trouble  is  that  we  have  not 
surrendered  our  wills. 

First  Congregational  Church. 

"  Scatter  Sunshine  "  was  the  opening  number  of  the  praise  service 
at  the  First  Congregational  Church.  Dr.  F.  J.  Woodman,  of  Washington, 
was  the  musical  director,  and  under  his  inspiring  leadership  a  hearty 
enthusiasm  was  noticeable  about  the  singing.  The  choir  of  Mount  Ver- 
non Place  M.  E.  Church  was  in  attendance. 

After  the  second  hymn  Mrs.  Hattie  Meads  Smith  sang  a  solo, 
accompanied  on  the  organ  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Bischoff,  of  Washington.  The 
number  was  warmly  received,  and  proved  one  of  the  features  of  the 
evening. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Lowden,  of  Olneyville,  R.  L,  presided  over  the  meeting, 
and  introduced  Rev.  S.  M.  Hartsock,  of  Washington,  who  conducted 
brief  devotional  exercises. 

The  singing  of  "  There  's  a  Royal  Banner  Ready  to  Display  for  the 
Loyal  Soldiers  of  the  King  "  was  followed  by  the  introduction  of  the 
first  speaker  of  the  evening.  Rev.  Kerr  Boyce  Tupper,  D.D.,  pastor  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia,  Pa, 

Address  of  Rev.  Kerr  Boyce  Tupper,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,   Pa. 

The  influence  of  a  choice  book  in  the  formation  and  development  of  a 
choice  character  none  have  overestimated.  "  Next  to  personal  religious  convic- 
tion," writes  a  gifted  author,  "  the  best  safeguard  for  us  is  a  taste  for  good  read- 
ing." "Whoever,"  wrote  wise  Richard  de  Bury,  500  years  ago,  "whoever  ac- 
knowledges himself  to  be  an  earnest  follower  of  truth,  happiness,  wisdom,  and 
even  faith,  must  make  himself  a  lover  of  books."  Alexander  the  Great,  reveal- 
ing valor  and  patriotic  fervor,  slept  with  the  Iliad.  The  life  of  this  same  Alex- 
ander made  Charles  the  twelfth  of  Sweden  a  man.  Cotton  Mather's  essay  on 
doing  good  shaped  Benjamin  Franklin's  life.  Abraham  Lincoln  attributed 
much  of  his  elevation  during  his  political  career  to  Plutarch's  "  Lives." 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  there  been  such  a  demand  as  at  pres- 
ent for  choice  literature  with  which  to  counteract  and  destroy  the  impure  books 
and  degrading  pamphlets  which  yearly  curse  our  land.  The  elder  Pliny  said 
1,800  years  ago,  "  No  book  is  so  bad  but  that  some  part  may  be  read  with  profit." 
This  was  not  so  then;  it  is  far  less  true  to-day.  There  are  books  as  barren  of 
example  of  noble  manhood  and  womanhood  as  the  African  desert  is  barren  of 
roses  and  peonies.  From  New  York  City  alone  no  fewer  than  200,000  books, 
either  trashy  or  impure,  are  annually  sent  out.  The  influence  of  these  must  be 
recognized  and  heroically  and  manfully  destroyed. 


Fifteenth  Intertiational  Convention.  229 

And  most  desirable  is  it  that  in  our  day  of  choice  literature,  much  of  which 
is  not  essentially  Christian,  we  emphasize  the  books  tiiat  tell  specially  on 
spiritual  growth;  books  that  lead  the  young  of  our  churches  to  love  what  God 
loves,  and  to  yield  their  lives  in  affectionate  self-surrender  to  Jesus  Christ.  It 
is  well  enough  for  them  to  read  widely  in  history,  Carlyle,  Freeman,  P'roude, 
Guizot,  Hallam,  Prescott,  Rawlinson.  It  is  well  that  they  get  considerable 
acquaintance  with  the  world's  poets,  as  Homer,  Horace,  Dante,  Shakespeare, 
Milton,  Browning,  Burns,  and  Tennyson.  It  is  well  enough  that  they  read  with 
care  the  choice  works  of  romance,  as  George  Eliot,  Scott,  Bulwer,  Thackeray, 
MacDonald,  Miss  Muloch,  and  Howells.  It  is  well  enough  that  they  read 
extensively  our  most  gifted  essayists.  Bacon,  Macaulay,  Addison,  Foster,  and 
Emerson  ;  but  necessary  to  the  spiritual  culture  of  these  young  men  and  women 
is  the  perusal  of  books  that  deal  with  a  higher  relation  of  the  soul. 

Let  me,  therefore,  give  you  a  list  of  150  of  the  choicest  books,  as  far  as  I 
know,  that  dwell  upon  the  aspects  of  spiritual  life. 

1.  Books  that  develop  the  devotional  life. 

2.  Books  that  mark  out  practical  methods  of  Church  work. 

3.  Books  that  impart  missionary  intelligence. 

4.  Books  that  confirm  Christian  faith.  (At  this  point  Dr.  Tupper  distribu- 
ted several  thousand  copies  of  150  books  on  the  subjects  of  choice  literature  as 
suggested.) 

Each  of  the  books  I  have  here  recommended  is  worthy  of  high  place  in  our 
hearts,  libraries,  and  homes;  but  best  of  all  is  the  Word  of  God,  which  stands 
above  all  other  books,  its  author  God,  its  subject  man,  its  object  salvation,  its 
aim  the  development  of  the  immortal  nature.  Take  this  book  ever  as  the  arti- 
cle of  faith,  the  manual  of  devotion,  the  charteV  of  liberty.  It  is  full  of  the 
richest  strains  of  poetry,  the  most  memorable  of  history,  the  most  inexhaustible 
source  of  philosophy ;  but  above  all  these,  it  meets  the  spiritual  needs  of  our 
race,  relieving  the  conscience,  elevating  the  intellect,  illuminating  the  spirit, 
and  transforming  the  life.  Young  men,  young  women,  read  it,  study  it,  medi- 
tate upon  it,  translate  its  heavenly  thought  into  your  earthly  life.  Let  nothing 
in  our  proud  world  cause  you  to  lose  faith  in  it;  but  believe  in  it,  and  rest  on  it 
with  a  faith  which  no  philosophy  can  destroy,  no  sophistry  disturb,  no  scep- 
ticism touch. 

Rev.  Dr.  Tapper's  address  was  enthusiastically  applauded,  and  next 
the  choir  sang  "  The  Cross  of  Victory,"  after  which  Mr.  W.  O.  Atwood, 
of  Baltimore,  Md.,  conducted  an  open  parliament  on  the  pledge. 
In  opening,  Mr.  Atwood  made  it  plain  that  he  expected  those  in  the 
congregation  to  participate  actively  in  the  parliament.  He  asserted 
his  belief  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge.  "  No  society,"  he  said, 
*'  can  exist  for  any  length  of  time  if  organized  without  it ;  one  might  just 
as  well  endeavor  to  construct  a  house  of  bricks  without  mortar.  With 
the  pledge,"  he  added,  "it  is  possible  to  go  out  armed  and  equipped  to 
strike  for  Jesus." 

For  some  little  time  thereafter  Endeavorers  in  all  parts  of  the  church 
arose  and  briefly  stated  their  views  of  the  pledge.  Questions  were 
asked  and  answered,  and,  altogether,  this  portion  of  the  meeting  was 
unique,  interesting,  instructive,  and  enjoyable. 

Then  followed  two  addresses  on  the  subject  "Our  Duty  to  the  Sun- 
day Evening  Service,"  by  two  brothers,  pastors  in  Wisconsin. 

Address  of  Rev.  Henry  Faville,  La  Crosse,  Wis. 

First,  friends,  we  have  to  meet  certain  facts  concerning  this  Sunday  evening 
service.  I  have  a  theory  that  our  Sunday  evening  service  ought  to  be  an  evan- 
gelistic service, —  fifty-two  in  the  year,  if  possible.     But  here  is  the  fact:  most 


230  Official  Report  of  the 

of  us  are  not  evangelists.  I  am  not  sure  but  some  of  us  could  be  if,  in  the  first 
place,  they  would  relieve  us  of  all  pastoral  work  and  other  services  in  the 
church,  and  then  entertain  us  at  a  hotel,  and  then  appoint  committees  for  the 
work,  and  then  all  of  the  churches  in  a  town  or  a  city  would  go  in  together. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  then  we  might  be  evangelists,  more  of  us  than 
are.  But  the  fact  is,  the  average  minister,  at  least  in  my  church, —  it  is  the 
Congregational  Church, —  is  not  an  evangelist;  and  we  have  to  meet  that  fact, 
that  we  cannot  hold  fifty-two  strictly  evangelistic  services  during  the  year. 

We  have  to  meet  another  fact.  The  average  adult  church-member  is  not 
greatly  in  need  of  an  evening  service  for  himself.  He  ought  to  be  at  the  morn- 
ing service  ;  he  ought  to  be  in  the  Sunday  school  as  a  teacher  or  learner.  He 
goes  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  ;  and  then  he  needs  an  evening 
with  his  family,  ofttimes  —  at  least,  he  could  better  spend  the  moments  there 
than  elsewhere,  if  he  is  an  active,  adult  member  in  the  church,  I  say.  I  do  not 
preach  this,  you  understand,  at  home ;  but  it  is  a  fact,  all  the  same. 

I  urge  no  one  to  stay  at  home.  But  they  have  duties  at  home  that  must  be  and 
should  be  attended  to,  ofttimes,  if  they  have  been  faithful  to  their  duties  during 
the  day. 

But  now,  another  feature  :  the  average  community  and  city  does  need  the 
evening  service  — whether  in  this  city,  whether  in  New  York,  or  whether  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  where  I  come  from.  I  found  this  in  my  own  city. 
I  believe  in  my  own  city  ;  I  love  its  people.  We  have  a  growing  city.  Five 
years  ago  it  had  25,000  people.  It  has  somewhat  more  now.  But,  by  a  rather 
careful  estimate  and  inquiry  upon  the  attendance  in  all  the  churches  —  some 
twenty-six  in  that  city—  I  found  that  the  average  attendance  upon  the  evening 
service  in  Catholic  and  Lutheran  and  all  other  Protestant  churches  was  2,050 
out  of  25,000  people.  That  means  that  we  are  largely  not  a  church-gomg  people 
—  certainly  not  in  the  evening. 

I  think  perhaps  we  are  exceptional  in  the  number  that  attended  the  evening 
services  there  five  years  ago.  But  the  fact  is  that  there  are  at  least  10,000 
people  in  that  city  who  would  be  far  better  off  in  the  evening  services  of  our 
church  than  in  any  other  place  in  the  city.  Granting  that  there  are  15,000 
who  are  children,  or  who  have  not  the  physical  ability  to  go  to  church, —  and 
let  that  include  some  of  the  parents,  too, —  it  is  a  wide  margin  to  say  that 
15,000  might  be  at  home.  We  ought  to  have  10,000,  I  realize,  rather  than  2,000, 
in  our  churches. 

Now,  the  question  was  how  to  meet  these  facts.  I  set  myself  to  work  upon 
them  somewhat  personally  about  five  years  ago,  for  I  wanted  to  do  something 
for  the  city,  and  I  came  to  this  conclusion  for  my  own  church  ;  and  you  will 
allow  me  to  speak  somewhat  personally  from  this  time  on. 

I  felt  that  we  have  something  to  give  to  the  city  ;  that  we  must,  as  a  church, 
throughout  evening  service,  try  to  do  something  for  at  the  least  8,000  people 
who  might  be  in  church,  who  ought  to  be  in  church,  who  would  be  blessed  by 
an  evening  service. 

I  have  this  feeling:  that  many  of  us,  as  churches,  have  got  to  fulfil  this 
great  thought  of  Christ's,  and  lose  our  life  as  a  church  in  the  community,  to  a 
certain  extent,  in  order  to  find  it  in  some  larger  life.  And  so  I  said  that  we  as 
a  church  are  not  to  think  of  our  deacons,  of  our  Sunday-school  teachers,  of 
our  young  people,  indeed,  only,  but  to  think  of  the  eight  thousand  outside  who 
might  be  blessed  if  they  would  come  into  church  on  Sunday  evening. 

And  so  I  said  this  :  "  We  must  go  upon  the  principle  of  giving,  as  far  as 
possible.  In  the  next  place,  we  must  give  our  best,  if  we  are  to  do  aught  as 
Christians."  You  know  how  it  is,  you  pastors  at  least,  if  you  have  any  such  con- 
ditions as  we  have;  the  pastors,  if  they  have  a  specially  good  sermon,  preach 
it  in  the  morning,  while  the  choir  always  has  better  music  in  the  morning  than 
in  the  evening;  and  I  said,  "This  is  wrong  if  we  are  to  do  the  work  of 
Christians,  and  give.  We  ought  to  give  the  very  best  that  we  can  to  this  even- 
ing service."    And  on  that  principle  we  went  out. 

There  is  another  thing  to  consider,  also.  I  am  not  enough  of  a  preacher  to 
draw  men  to  my  church  by  personal  power,  atleast  in  such  a  city  as  La  Crosse, 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  231 

But  I  said,  "  They  ought  to  be  helped,  and  I  am  here  to  help  them.     And  now 
we  will  add  a  little  something  to  this."    This  was  the  addition:  — 

First,  additional  music  in  tlie  service. 

Second,  a  programme  in  which  all  were  to  take  some  part, —  a  printed  pro- 
gramme, with  hymns  and  responsive  readings. 

Now  about  this  music  that  we  added.  Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  sir;  I  am  not  sure, 
but  sometimes,  in  our  first  vocal  —  perhaps  not  in  the  vocal,  but  certainly  in 
the  instrumental  —  quartets,  the  garments  of  some  smelt  not  of  myrrh  and  aloes, 
but  of  the  saloon.  I  am  not  sure  but  we  had  some  musicians  who  knew  more 
about  the  saloon  than  about  worship.  We  did  not  really  mean  to  have  that 
kind.  We  certainly  wanted  respectable  congregations,  and  men  and  women  of 
character  in  our  additional  musical  service.  But  at  first  we  did  not  have  all 
such  as  we  would  like.  But  you  may  publish  it  in  Eschalon  that  in  the  city  of 
La  Crosse  the  most  popular  music-teacher,  teaching  vocal  music  to  perhaps 
twenty  in  my  own  church,  and  teaching  instrumental  music  also,  is  one  who, 
through  this  service,  by  being  invited  to  assist  in  a  Sunday  evening  service, 
was  taken  from  the  saloon,  and  to-day  is  a  new  man  through  that  instrumen- 
tality. So  1  am  not  as  fearful  as  I  was  at  first  to  introduce  occasionally  one 
who  is  not  in  sympathy  with  our  work,  and  who  knows  but  very  little  about  it, — 
especially  in  a  German  and  Scandinavian  city  like  our  own, —  who  is  but  very 
little  acquainted  with  our  methods  of  evening  service. 

We  have  helped  them,  and  they  have  helped  us.  It  is  true  there  was  some 
criticism  of  putting  in  additional  music,  such  as  a  stringed  quartet.  Not  among 
my  own  people, —  for,  let  me  say,  I  have  the  best  people  in  the  earth  outside  of 
your  own  church,  of  course,—  I  want  to  say  that  among  them  there  was  no 
criticism,  but  only  a  ready  co-operation  in  adding  to  this  service.  There  were 
some  who  were  like  the  old  gentleman  who  was  very  deaf  and  yet  very  argu- 
mentative ;  and  he  would  always  get  in  an  argument,  if  possible,  and  then  would 
say,  "  I  don't  understand  a  word  that  you  say,  but  I  beg  leave  to  differ  with 
you." 

There  were  a  good  many  that  did  not  understand  our  motives,  our  plans,  our 
purposes,  at  all;  but  they  begged  leave  to  differ  with  us.  But  it  has  been  a 
success,  a  great  success,  in  reaching  out  after  some  whom  we  needed  and  who 
needed  us. 

Let  me  say  that  at  first  we  organized  a  little  helping  band  which  was  known 
as  the  Pastor's  Auxiliary.  But  I  wanted  that  more  perfect  touch  with  the  church ; 
and  so,  a  little  later,  the  only  addition  as  far  as  machinery  was  concerned  in 
connection  with  the  evening  service  was  this: — 

I  said  that  we  ought  to  have  more  associate  members  than  we  have.  Pos- 
sibly some  would  come  in  touch  with  our  society  if  we  should  say  to  them, 
"  We  have  a  little  work  for  you  to  do  in  the  church  ;  we  want  you  to  help  usher 
in  the  evening  service."  And  so  we  have  as  an  addition  to  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  to-day  a  committee  that  is  called  the  Young  Men's  Auxiliary, 
with  the  one  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  evening  service,  so  far  as  any  assistance 
is  needed.  It  means  but  very  little, —  some  do  not  usher  for  more  than  one  or 
two  months,  perhaps, —  and  yet  it  sometimes  brings  a  young  man  in  touch  with 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society.  We  say  to  the  young  man,  "  Young  fellow, 
we  have  a  place  for  you,  some  service  that  you  can  do  if  you  are  willing  to  do 
it;  won't  you  usher  for  us  for  one  month  or  two  months  in  our  evening  ser- 
vice 1 "  Many  a  time  they  are  glad  to  do  it,  and  many  a  time  it  has  been  the 
first  step  into  active  membership. 

Don't  leave  what  we  call  out  West  the  wheel-horses  off  from  the  evening 
service,  though  you  may  introduce  these  associate  members  of  the  Society  as 
workers.  I  mean  this:  keep  upon  the  committees,  keep  upon  the  staff  of  ush- 
ers, some  of  those  who  are  to  be  depended  on  through  thick  and  thin,  through 
storm  and  cold,  through  hot  and  dry. 

Christian  Endeavorers,  don't  turn  aside  entirely  from  the  old  deacons  or 
Sunday-school  superintendents  or  trustees  or  church  workers.  Remember 
that  they  can  serve  the  evening  service  with  you,  and  without  them,  even 
though  you  should  follow  our  plan,  you  shall,  after  all,  have  not  the  most  of 


232  Official  Report  of  the 

stability  in  your  evening  service.     The  deacon  and  the  pastor,  however,  will 
get  interested,  if  you  make  the  right  kind  of  a  race  for  the  evening  service. 

Then  Rev.  John  Faville,  of  Appleton,  Wis.,  took  the  platform. 

Address  of  Rev.  John  Faville,  Appleton,  Wis. 

Our  Young  Men's  Sunday  Evening  Club  has  solved  for  us  the  problem  of 
the  evening  service.  Believing  it  has  some  features  that  will  help  others,  I 
am  to  speak  of  it.  Our  city  of  Appleton  has  fifteen  thousand  people,  seventy 
saloons,  twelve  churches,  one  synagogue,  and  a  Christian  college.  In  six  of 
the  churches  services  are  conducted  in  German  ;  in  none  of  them  are  there  large 
evening  audiences.   The  chief  industry  of  the  city  is  the  manufacture  of  paper. 

Four  years  ago  last  February  I  invited  twenty-four  men  to  lunch  with  me  at 
the  hotel.  (Generalship!)  One-third  of  these  men  were  church-members,  one- 
third  attendants,  one-third  non-attendants.  They  were  business  and  profes- 
sional men,  ranging  from  twenty-five  to  forty-five  years  of  age.  They  were  not 
doing  anything  by  way  of  church  work  except  to  make  a  subscription  to  the 
current  expenses,  and  not  all  even  that.  I  unfolded  to  them  my  ideas,  which  I 
got  largely  from  my  brother,  as  to  the  possibility  of  helping  the  evening  ser- 
vice. Almost  without  exception  they  entered  heartily  into  the  plan,  and  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1892,  the  club  was  organized  with  twenty  members,  and  February  21, 
we  began  our  first  service  with  its  assistance. 

Two  general  ideas  were  prominent  in  our  efforts :  — 

First,  to  make  a  better  service.  Not  to  attempt  something  entirely  new;  not 
to  depend  on  innovations  nor  sensations,  but  to  put  more  time  and  money  and 
enthusiasm  and  consecration  into  the  parts  of  the  service  we  had.  My  brother 
has  perhaps  sufficiently  emphasized  that  fact,  but  it  is  important  to  keep  it  in 
mind.  As  many  a  church  financial  system  is  good  enough  if  worked  at  its  best, 
so  we  believed  the  evening  service  in  its  general  design  and  method  was  good  if 
worked.  Aside  from  using  musical  instruments  other  than  the  organ,  we  have 
had  nothing  in  our  service  that  could  be  considered  an  innovation,  unless  it  was 
the  numbers, —  simply  a  better,  a  more  varied  and  vigorous  use  of  what  is  con- 
sidered the  standard  for  this  Sunday  evening  hour  in  the  church. 

Second,  general  idea.  To  take  the  men  of  the  community  into  partner- 
ship, as  far  as  possible,  in  regard  to  this  service, —  the  men  not  identified  with 
other  churches,  and  also  the  men  not  now  burdened  with  church  duties.  To 
make  some  one  beside  the  pastor  and  choir  and  organist  and  a  few  stragglers 
and  still  fewer  faithful  church-goers  in  part  responsible  for  this  service.  To 
make  it  a  democracy  (not  political,  here)  rather  than  a  monarchy  or  aristoc- 
racy, as  a  service. 

If  we  made  the  better  service  we  felt  we  wanted  more  people  to  profit  by 
it.  So  in  order  to  improve  the  service  and  to  enlist  others,  the  Young  Men's 
Sunday  Evening  Club  was  organized.  It  is  a  simple  association  with  a  single 
aim,  expressed  in  its  constitution, —  "  To  increase  the  interest  and  effectiveness 
of  the  Sunday  evening  service." 

The  conditions  of  membership  in  this  order  we  made  neither  creed  nor  char- 
acter, but  —  a  dollar.  It  was  not  stated  whether  it  should  be  a  silver  or  gold 
or  paper  dollar,  for  we  organized  four  and  a  half  years  ago,  but  simply  a  plain, 
ordinary  dollar.  Was  it  wise  to  make  that  one  condition  for  a  club  that  was  to 
identify  itself  with  the  Church?  Remember  what  we  were  after, —  simply  a 
better  Sunday  evening  service.  One  essential  was  more  people.  Any  man, 
then,  who  had  any  desire  to  help  to  this  end  we  wanted.  The  duty  of  the 
members  was  such  that  it  was  no  compromise  to  join  the  club,  even  if  not  up  to 
a  standard  of  life  that  must  be  required  of  a  church-member.  We  were  not 
after  the  church-members,  but  those  away  from  the  Church  so  far  that  they 
were  not  even  attendants.  So  we  asked  a  man,  not  simply  to  come  to  church, 
but  to  join  our  club  that  was  aiming  to  improve  thisservice.  The  invitation  to 
come  only  would  have  accomplished  much;  but  to  join  the  club,  to  invest  a 
dollar,  and  then  be  asked  to  do  a  little  work,  to  assume  a  limited  responsibility, 
thai  was  taking  hold  of  a  new  side  of  a  man.    To  ask  a  person  to  do  some- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  233 

thing  instead  of  stand  around  and  see  some  one  else  do  it  is  a  far  surer  way  of 
winning  him. 

With  these  two  dominant  ideas  we  began  our  work  as  a  club.  We  have  suc- 
ceeded far  beyond  our  anticipation.  We  have  made  a  better  evening  service.  It 
has  been  a  prompt,  varied,  business-like,  religious,  people's  service.  The  motto  of 
the  Pleasant  Sunday  Afternoon  Association  of  England,  "  Brief,  Bright,  Brother- 
ly," would  not  be  inappropriate  for  us.  Printed  programmes  with  responsive  read- 
ings, hymns,  and  order  of  service  are  handed  each  person  at  the  door.  We  do  not 
confine  ourselves  to  the  same  musicians  for  the  special  music,  but  try  to  enlist 
all  who  are  available.  The  sermon  is  usually  by  the  pastor,  and  has  been  writ- 
ten in  full  and  read.  The  remark  of  the  judge  who,  when  asked  what  the 
length  of  a  sermon  should  be,  said,  "  Fifteen  minutes,  with  a  leaning  to  the  side 
of  mercy  "  has  been  heeded.  As  a  recorder  of  facts,  I  must  state  that  one  of 
the  popular  features  has  been  the  sermon,  i.  e.,the  shortness  of  it.  (Here  again, 
generalship.)  Seriously,  this  is  an  item.  It  is  better  to  work  a  day  on  a 
fifteen-minute  sermon  than  a  half-day  on  a  thirty-minute.  It  is  better  to  talk 
fifteen  minutes  to  seven  hundred  people  than  thirty  minutes  to  one  hundred, 
especially  if  you  get  practically  the  same  thought  in  the  former  address.  We 
have  made  a  better  service.  It  has  cost  more  in  time  and  money,  but  it  has 
been  worth  more  than  it  has  cost. 

It  is,  I  repeat,  a  distinctly  religious  service,  but  varied  in  this :  it  attempts  to 
touch  the  community  on  many  sides ;  e.  g.,  we  have  one-half  dozen  times  a 
year  special  nights,  and  ask  some  class  or  association  to  be  our  guests,  such 
as  a  "  clerks',"  a  "  teachers',  "  a  "  temperance,"  a  "  benevolent  society,"  a  "  citi- 
zens', "  or  a  "  children's  home  "  night,  —  City  Council  and  officers.  And  in 
such  a  service  there  is  not  only  a  response  on  the  part  of  those  invited,  but  a 
new  bond  between  them  and  the  Church. 

But  after  all,  it  was  the  club  itself  with  us  that  made  the  greatest  change. 
We  began  with  twenty  members.  There  are  now  on  our  membership  roll  six 
hundred  and  eleven  names.  Of  this  number  six  hundred  are  living,  and  over  five 
hundred  are  now  in  our  city,  and  but  with  rare  exceptions  they  can  be  relied  on 
to  assist  in  helping  to  make  this  service  a  success.  They  are  all  but  one  men 
under  eighteen  years  of  age.  They  include  at  least  fifty  vocations.  These  men 
are  appointed  on  committees,  which  are  changed  monthly  so  that  none  may  be 
burdened  with  the  duties  or  the  honors.  The  officers,  who  hold  for  three 
months,  are  an  executive  committee  to  make  the  monthly  appointments.  We 
bring  the  men  on  in  alphabetical  order,  and  the  monthly  committees  are  pub- 
lished on  the  programme.  We  know  by  this  who  are  responsible  for  special 
work  that  month.  The  success  of  the  service  that  month  rests  upon  these  com- 
mittees largely, —  as  far  as  attending  to  the  detail  work  is  concerned.  The 
attendance  on  these  services  has  been  from  the  first  night  uniformly  good. 
The  club  has  held  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  services.  From  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  to  fifty  was  the  average  evening  audience  before  it  was  started.  Six 
hundred  and  fifty  has  been  the  average  since,  and  often  a  thousand  —  except  dur- 
ing a  few  weeks  of  summer.  We  as  much  expect  an  audience  that  will  fill  the 
church  and  often  require  chairs  in  the  aisle  as  we  expect  a  fair  morning  audi- 
ence.    Helpful  factors,  however,  are  these :  — 

The  church  itself.  From  the  first  the  club  met  with  a  hearty  reception 
from  the  church.  The  trustees  gave  the  evening  collection  to  the  club  to  help 
defray  expenses  for  printed  programmes  and  special  music,  and  the  club  has 
never  lacked  sufficient  funds  for  its  work.  Our  church  has  in  it  no  cliques  and 
classes  that  are  obtrusive,  no  "  wings"  that  are  trying  to  take  it  in  different  wavs. 
It  has  an  exceptionally  large  and  vigorous  Sunday  school,  and  it  is  an  atten- 
tive, eager  crowd.  There  are  many  in  it  who  five  years  ago  did  not  attend 
church  at  all,  and  there  are  many  young  men  in  the  club  who  without  it 
would  be  on  the  streets,  or  in  worse  places,  Sunday  evenings. 

So  the  results  have  been  far  greater  than  we  dared  hope  along  the  line  f^'- 
which  we  were  organized, —  the  improvement  of  the  evening  service.  This  is 
all  the  club  has  contracted  to  do,  but  it  has  done  much  more  than  that.  It 
has  assisted  by  its  committees  in  the  morning  service,   increased  the   size   of 


234  Official  Report  of  the 

the  parish,  developed  a  better  social  life,  helped  in  the  finances  of  the  church, 
carried  on  for  three  years  a  successful,  high-grade  lecture-course,  identified  it- 
self with  the  local  charities  of  the  city,  and  in  other  ways  has  helped  to  make 
the  church  a  "  house  of  life." 

As  I  try  to  gather  up  the  elements  that  enter  into  this  movement,  or  analyze 
the  forces  that  have  helped  to  so  completely  transform  our  service,  and  that 
have  helped  turn  many  non-attendants  toward  the  church  ;  as  I  try  to  suggest 
to  others  that  they  can  go  and  do  likewise,  I  find  it  difficult  to  express  my  con- 
victions clearly. 

We  have  a  good  church-building,  well  located,  and  are  in  spirit  and  make-up 
somewhat  of  a  people's  church.  As  anotner  factor,  I  had  been  a  pastor  at 
Appleton  six  years  before  attempting  it.  I  knew  the  field.  1  had  done  consider- 
able special  pastoral  work  among  the  men.  I  had  learned  from  personal  con- 
tact that  most  men  have  a  warm  place  in  their  hearts,  if  you  can  reach  it,  for 
the  Church  as  an  institution;  they  do  not  want  it  to  go  down.  I  learned  that 
many  a  man  needs  sympathy  and  encouragement  more  than  he  needs  condem- 
nation. I  learned  that  the  thing  to  do  to  help  him  is  to  go  where  he  is,  and 
begin  with  him  there,  instead  of  insisting  he  must  first  come  where  you  are.  I 
learned  that  it  was  safe  to  ask  a  good  act  of  any  one,  and  put  the  responsibil- 
ity of  refusal  on  him.  I  learned  that  the  fear  of  compromising  something, —  or 
somebody, —  if  you  make  a  new  departure  in  order  to  win  men,  is  born  too  much 
of  cowardice  and  prejudice.  I  remembered  that  Christ  did  not  ask  Peter  to 
preach  the  sermon  on  Pentecost  the  first  time  he  met  him.  He,  instead,  went 
fishing  with  him.  Call  a  man  a  gentleman  and  he  will  generally  straighten  up 
and  try  for  the  moment  to  be  one.  Assume  he  is  a  rascal  and  you  have  lost 
your  grip  on  him. 

Again,  the  club's  success  is  in  its  not  attempting  to  do  everything.  Some 
write  me,  asking  if  the  club  has  many  conversions,  and  how  many  church-mem- 
bers from  it,  etc.  My  answer  is  that  the  direct  religious  results  have  been 
more  than  I  anticipated,  but  the  club  was  not  born  to  do  everything.  Other 
agents  and  forces  of  the  Church  are  to  supplement  its  work.  If  it  helps  the 
evening  service  its  mission  is  accomplished.  It  has  done  much  more  than  it 
promised,  but  it  has  been  successful  in  the  fact  that  it  has  not  attempted  to  do 
everything.  But  beyond  this  the  success  has  been  in  asking  so  many  to  do 
something.  "  A  little  from  many,  instead  of  much  from  a  few,"  is  our  church 
motto.  This  utilizing  just  as  far  as  possible  as  many  as  possible  is  one  secret 
of  success.  My  brother  has  emphasized  giving  something  in  this  even- 
ing service  to  the  community.  That  is  good  ;  that  is  the  unselfish  spirit.  But 
there  is  another  side  ;  viz.,  each  member  of  the  club  or  community  giving  some- 
thing to  this  service.  Give  all  you  can  in  this  service,  but  get  all  you  can  to 
give  of  themselves  to  it,  is  our  thought.  So  there  has  been  work  done  by  the 
club.  The  service  has  not  continued  a  steady  success  for  four  and  a  half  years 
because  it  had  a  club  or  varied  music  or  short  sermons  or  some  favoring  condi- 
tions. Wide-awake  men,  accustomed  to  succeed,  have  put  constant  work  in  it. 
The  membership  committees  have  gone  after  men ;  the  music  committees  have 
given  time  to  their  duties;  the  ushers  have  been  prompt  and  cordial;  the 
officers,  interested  in  their  duties. 

It  has  been  clear  from  the  first  that  this  service  would  not  run  itself.  These 
six  hundred  men  have  all  been  placed  on  committees.  Some  of  these  commit- 
tees some  months  have  nothing  to  do  as  a  committee,  but  all  are  supposed  to 
be  interested  in  the  general  work,  and  to  turn  the  tide  in  favor  of  church  attend- 
ance. I  have  never  met  more  faitliful  workers  for  any  church  enterprise  than 
many  of  these  club-members,  who  before  its  organization  were  doing  nothing, 
and  the  progress  of  many  shows  the  principle  they  are  putting  into  this  work 
is  most  gratifying. 

But  underneath  all,  I  hold,  has  been  as  the  most  important  factor,  faith  in 
men,— a  faith  that  has  dared  ask  them  into  this  organization  on  the  simple 
basis  of  a  membership  fee;  a  faith  that  dares  take  them  into  partnership  just 
as  far  as  they  would  go.  To  say  to  men  outside  of  the  Church,  "  This  evening  ser- 
vice needs  you  ;  you  can  help  it  if  you  will,"  touches  and  inspires  the  best  in 


Fifteenth  International  Convcntioji.  235 

them.  So  we  have  tried  to  make  a  sweet,  Catholic-spirited,  positive,  Christian 
service.  We  have  tried  to  magnify  our  likenesses  and  minify  our  differences. 
We  have  tried  to  turn  the  current  of  the  community  toward  the  Church,  know- 
ing that  under  its  influences  and  out  of  its  messages  will  come  better  things  to 
the  lives  of  men.  And  this  has  been  true.  One  example,  to  be  multiplied  by  a 
score:  an  ex-saloon-keeper  is  president  of  our  club  to-night.  It  is  no  mean 
honor  now  to  be  at  the  head  of  our  association, — a  current  saying  among  us  being 
that  it  is  as  great  an  honor  as  to  be  mayor  of  a  city, — and  yet  this  man  is  now 
worthy  of  this  honor,  and  he  owes  this  worthiness  more  to  the  men's  club  than  to 
any  other  one  organization  or  agency. 

So  I  believe  in  our  Young  Men's  Sunday  Evening  Club.  The  evening  ser- 
vice offers  a  splendid  field  for  experiments,  as  has  been  said.  The  average 
morning  congregation  shows  a  lively  indifference,  a  masterly  inactivity  in  regard 
to  it.  And  yet  there  are  conditions  that  ought  to  make  this  service  a  power. 
There  are  plenty  of  people.  Here  is  a  closing  hour  of  the  Sabbath,  a  day  that 
we  have  devoted  to  sacred  service.  Here  is  an  open  field,  and  here  are  vast  un- 
utilized forces  in  the  men  in  every  community  as  related  to  the  Church.  To 
multiply  agencies,  to  increase  machinery,  seems  dangerous,  but  not  when,  as  in 
the  case  of  our  young  people  organized  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  you 
can  find  unutilized  power.  Now  if  the  men  by  any  simple  association  or  move- 
ment can  be  enlisted  in  the  evening  service,  there  is  no  danger  of  the  machinery 
becoming  too  much  for  the  power. 

This  is  my  suggestion  as  a  possible  duty  to  the  service:  a  rally  of  the  men 
to  make  it  a  centre  of  influence ;  a  platform  for  the  best  things  of  God,  a 
Christian  force.  The  Young  Men's  Club  is  simply  an  attempt  to  utilize  the 
unutilized,  to  find  something  to  do  for  every  one  who  is  willing,  be  it  ever  so 
little.  It  says, "  Come  and  help  us"  instead  of,  "  Come  and  hear  us."  It  says  to  all 
men,  •'  We  want  you  to  make  the.Sunday  evening  hour  one  that  you  will  not  be 
ashamed  to  think  about  on  Monday."  And  I  have  thought  if  out  of  these  past 
failures  as  pastors  to  make  this  service  what  we  wanted  or  felt  it  ought  to  be, 
we  have  learned  it  is  not  the  business  of  the  preacher  alone  to  build  it,  that  it 
is  not  the  duty  of  the  members  who  are  now  doing  their  sliare,  that  it  must 
not  be  laid  upon  the  women  who  are  doing  more  than  their  part,  that  it  is  not 
the  Christian  Endeavorers' mission,  though  they  can  help,  but  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  men,  the  men  who  are  now  outside,  and  absorbed  in  other  things,  to  take 
hold  of  this  work,  not  alone  for  their  own  sake  but  for  the  public  good;  if 
we,  out  of  the  decline  of  the  evening  service,  learn,  as  pastors,  that  we  must 
trust  men  more,  co-operate  with  them  better,  then  we  shall  all  be  benefited 
by  past  failures,  the  Church  will  in  the  end  be  the  stronger,  and  the  kingdom  of 
God  will  be  the  sooner  triumphant  in  this  world. 

Foundry  flethodist  Episcopal  Church. 

The  pastor  of  the  Foundry  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Rev.  Oliver 
A.  Brown,  D.D.,  presided  over  the  meeting.  The  musical  programme 
was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Russell  Barnes,  and  was  a  success.  After 
devotional  exercises  by  Rev.  Chas.  B.  Ramsdell,  D.D.,  of  Washington, 
the  topic  of  the  evening,  "Three  Elements  of  the  Pledge,"  was  taken 
up ;  and  the  first  speaker  was  from  England  and  was  royally  received. 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Towers,  Manchester,  England. 

My  Dear  Brethren,  Christian  Friends  atid  Feliow  Endeavorers: —  I  rejoice 
to  stand  before  you  to-night  as  a  representative  of  the  Old  Country,  and  to  bring 
you  the  greetings  of  our  ever-growing  Christian  Endeavor  host  from  Great 
Britain.  We  rejoice  for  this  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  We  rejoice  in 
all  America,  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  and  Ireland.  In  this  church  where  we 
meet  to-night  they  have  a  chapter  of  the  Epworth  League.  We  rejoice  for  this 
movement  also.     I  trust  that  these  two  branches  of  Christian  work  may  be 


236  Official  Report  of  the 

married  very  soon.  Indeed,  I  want  to  claim  the  privilege  of  John  Bull,  and 
publish  the  banns  here  this  very  night.  I  hope  the  next  time  1  come  to  America 
we  shall  find  that  there  has  been  accomplished  this  union,  and  that  the  churches 
of  Christ  are  realizing  through  their  young  people  the  great  prayer  of  our  great 
Master  when  he  said,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one."  The  one  flag  that  we  all  should 
follow  should  be  the  standard  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  pray  the  unity  of  Christendom 
may  be  so  advanced  in  this  nineteenth  century  that  the  twentieth  shall  find  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  bandini;  together,  speaking  the  same  tongue,  and  following 
the  same  Saviour  in  the  same  battles;  that  the  world  may  be  one  for  Christ. 

Our  topic  to-night  is  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge, —  the  three  elements  of 
the  pledge.  We  have  but  to  square  our  lives  according  to  that  pledge,  and  we 
shall  find  that  there  grows  within  us  an  increasing  reverence  for  God;  that 
there  grows  within  us  an  increasing  knowledge  of  God's  blessed  Word ;  that 
there  grows  within  us  an  intense  desire  to  speak  to  God. 

To-night,  in  speaking  to  you  of  the  private  devotion  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavorer  —  oh,  1  would  that  my  God  should  put  words  into  my  mouth,  words 
that  should  live  in  all  our  memories  for  all  the  years  which  are  to  come  ! —  let  us 
ever  remember  that  God  made  us  in  his  own  image  ;  let  us  ever  remember  that 
God  loves  us  with  an  unspeakable  love;  let  us  ever  remember  that  God  re- 
deemed us  at  an  unspeakable  cost, —  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  should  not  perish  but  have 
everlasting  life."  Oh,  the  love  of  God!  That  men  would  say,  "Our  Father 
loves  us  and  provides  for  us  and  desires  to  have  us  to  himself!  "  Oh,  I  think 
that  is  one  of  the  great  mysteries  revealed  to  us  in  the  Word  of  God  that  we 
have  been  slow  to  comprehend.  God  wants  us,  you  and  me,  for  himself.  Love 
ever  wants  to  talk  to  the  object  upon  which  its  affection  is  fixed,  and  God 
comes  to  us  to-night,  and  tells  us  that  if  we  will  come  apart  from  the  world  we 
shall  have  close  communion  and  blessed  fellowship  with  the  Father  himself. 

Fellow  Endeavorers,  fellow  Christians,  in  the  midst  of  the  worldly  excite- 
ment of  the  politics  of  the  day,  in 'the  midst  of  the  distractions  of  business,  in 
the  midst  of  literary  society  and  of  recreation,  God  says  to  every  one  of  us  that 
we  need  to  come  into  our  chamber  and  shut  the  door  upon  the  world  and  pray 
to  him  in  secret;  and  He  who  prayed  in  secret  will  reward  us  openly. 

Will  you  allow  me  this  evening  to  tell  you,  very  affectionately,  in  the  name 
of  our  Master,  for  the  sake  of  him  who  loved  us;  will  you  permit  me  to  urge 
upon  you  the  claims  of  the  Almighty  in  asking  us  to  come  apart  from  the 
world,  and  give  him  our  time,  and  give  him  our  best  thoughts,  and  give  him  an 
opportunity  to  speak  to  us?     Surely,  I  may  speak  to  you  on  this  subject. 

Now,  first  of  all,  God  wants  us  to  give  time  with  him  for  meditation.  We 
do  not  want  to  be  superficial  Christians.  We  do  not  want  to  be  carried  away 
merely  by  a  wave  of  enthusiasm,  good  as  it  is;  but  we  want  that  the  fire  of 
enthusiasm  shall  be  aided  with  the  oil  of  meditation,  that  God  may  say  to  us 
what  was  said  by  the  Psalmist  in  the  fourth  Psalm,  "  Commune  with  your  own 
heart,  and  be  still." 

We  want  to  revere  God,  and  put  him  first  in  our  hearts  and  in  our  lives.  We 
should  read  his  Holy  Word.  This  we  promise  to  do  in  our  pledge.  The  best 
time  to  read  the  Bible  is  in  the  quiet  of  the  early  morning,  when  we  can  peace- 
fully commune  with  God  through  his  Word. 

Look  at  Martin  Luther  and  the  Reformation;  at  Oliver  Cromwell  and  the 
Commonwealth.  Think  you  that  we  should  have  had  Puritanism  if  the  Puri- 
tans had  not  loved  the  Word  of  God?  Look  at  John  Milton,  the  great  poet. 
They  were  all  men  who  loved  the  Bible  and  who  honored  God ;  and  God  says, 
"  They  that  honor  me  I  will  honor." 

O  fellow  Endeavorer,  do  not  begrudge  the  time  you  give  to  God  in  private 
prayer,  in  private  meditation,  in  reading  the  Word  of  God.  These  things  will 
all  repay  you. 

And  then  as  a  part,  and  as  a  helpful  part,  of  our  private  devotion,  we  come 
to  God, lifting  up  our  souls  in  prayer;  and  as  we  pray  to  him  we  find  that  our 
voices  are  never  raised  in  vain.  The  men  who  have  accomplished  the  most,  the 
men  who  have  been  raised  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame  in  the  realm  of  the 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  237 

Church,  have  been  those  who  could  wrestle  with  God  in  prayer.  Oh,  if  we  only 
knew  the  power  God  has  given  to  us  in  prayer!  So  it  was  with  Carey,  who 
opened  the  doors  to  India,  a  field  to  which  the  Christian  Endeavorers  are  suc- 
ceeding. So  it  is  with  the  Armenians  of  the  present  day.  God  grant  that  the 
unspeakable  Turk  may  be  wiped  out  of  existence. 

Brethren  and  sisters,  I  have  not  said  what  I  wanted  to  say  to  you  to-night 
on  this  first  line  of  our  platform,  the  Christian  Endeavorers'  private  devotion; 
but,  oh,  if  I  failed  in  delivering  to  you  the  message  to-night,  I  pray  God  that  he 
will  take  a  few  crumbs  and  make  them  to  be  a  feast  indeed  ! 

When  this  great  Washington  Convention  is  over,  and  we  have  returned  to 
our  quiet  homes  once  more  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  our  ways,  then  shall  we 
say  to  God,  early  in  the  morning,  before  we  start  the  engagements  of  the  day, 
"  My  God,  I  have  come  before  thee  this  morning  with  all  the  refreshment  of 
the  night's  rest.  I  have  come  to  thee  this  morning  that  thou  mightest  renew 
my  faith  and  renew  within  me  thy  spirit  in  this  quiet  hour,  and  that  thou 
mightest  speak  to  me  thy  will."  And  when  he  speaks  to  you  be  obedient. 
When  he  speaks  do  his  will.  Remember  it  was  the  great  burden  of  Christ's 
life  to  do  the  will  of  his  Father;  and  we  shall  walk  in  his  footsteps  when  we 
follow  him  in  the  path  of  obedience  and  fulfil  in  the  hours  of  the  working-day 
the  commands  that  were  given  to  us  at  our  private  devotion. 

The  next  sub-topic  was  "  Support  of  Church  Services,"  and  the 
speaker  was  the  President  of  the  Ohio  Christian  Endeavor  Union. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  H.  Bomberger,  Columbiana,  O. 

I  coined  a  beatitude  sometime  ago,  "  Blessed  is  the  pastor  who  expects 
much  of  his  young  people."  I  sincerely  believe  that  it  will  stand  the  severest 
practical  test;  that  the  young  people  in  almost  any  congregation  are  ready  to 
respond  heartily  to  any  pastor  who  will  approach  them  with  tact  and  sym- 
pathy, with  a  challenge  to  engage  in  church  work.  Ye  ask  and  have  not,  be- 
cause ye  ask  amiss.  I  have  little  to  say  in  defence  of  those  Endeavorers  who 
forsake  the  assembling  of  themselves  together  in  the  regular  services  of  their 
own  church  home.  But  on  the  other  hand,  I  believe  that  ordinarily  the  pastor 
is  also  at  fault  when  this  is  the  case.  Let  any  pastor  enter  into  the  interests  and 
thinking  of  his  young  people  with  cordial  sympathy,  and  judiciously,  and  I 
doubt  if  he  will  ever  know  a  time  when  they  will  not  loyally  rally  to  him  and 
be  ready  to  manifest  their  loyalty  by  regular  attendance  at  the  services  of  the 
Church.  Let  him  once  convince  them  individually  and  collectively  that  they 
are  near  to  his  heart,  and  he  will  generally  find  them  near  to  his  pulpit.  This 
end  will  not  be  reached  all  at  once,  but  will  be  the  result  of  patient  irainr'fig. 
Whether  pastors  and  congregations  improve  the  opportunity  or  not,  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  offers  them  an  inestimably  important  op- 
portunity for  developing,  controlling,  and  determining  the  character  of  their  par- 
ticipation in  the  activities  of  the  Church.  There  are  few  congregations  in 
which,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  young  people's  movement,  a  number  of 
the  young  men  and  women  have  not  stood  ready  to  offer  themselves  to  the 
pastor  as  subjects  for  this  training.  Many  pastors,  wise  in  their  generation, 
have  taken  advantage  of  this  God-sent  opportunity.  As  a  result,  probably 
5,000,000  of  our  young  people  are  undergoing  the  training  which  will  give  the 
character  to  the  church  activity  of  the  next  generation.  Additional  impor- 
tance is  given  to  this  when  it  is  remembered  that  whether  this  special  training 
is  given  or  not,  it  has  come  to  be  generally  admitted  that  one  of  the  special 
characteristics  of  the  Church  of  the  next  century  will  be  a  largely  increased 
lay  activity. 

The  conception  of  the  relation  existing  between  pastor  and  people  is  under- 
going a  clearly  defined  change.  He  is  no  longer  merely  their  spiritual  enter- 
tainer and  comforter.  He  is  their  leader,  the  one  who  inspires  them  for  zeal- 
ous effort  and  unflagging  endeavor.    They  do  not  need  so  much  specific  in- 


238  Official  Report  of  the 

formation  with  regard  to  Gospel  truth,  as  to  have  those  truths,  which  have 
oftentimes  lost  their  edge  through  familiarity  with  them,  made  real,  brought 
home  by  a  sort  of  spiritual  shock  to  their  consciences,  and  all  this  leading  up 
to  noble  and  Christlike  deeds.  It  has  been  said  of  art,  "  It  is  its  province 
not  to  present  specific  details,  but  to  impart  a  feeling."  He  is  the  truly  succes- 
ful  pastor  who,  through  his  sermons  and  his  mingling  with  his  people,  can 
communicate  spiritual  impulses  which  will  manifest  their  presence  by  pro- 
ducing increased  activity  in  all  lines  of  work  in  the  Master's  vineyard.  *'  Sup- 
port of  church  services  "  means,  first  of  all,  an  atteiidafice  upon  them  so  regular 
that  it  can  be  counted  on. 

Many  a  pastor  has  been  kept  in  a  state  of  chronic  disheartenment  by  his 
uncertainty  as  to  whether  his  next  Sunday  evening  congregation  would  be  a 
churchful  or  a  handful.  When  the  impulse  seized  them,  his  people  were  there 
in  force.  Inspired  by  the  memory  of  a  large  attendance,  he  had  been  led  to 
hope  that  it  would  be  a  permanent  thing.  In  this  hope  he  has  prepared  with 
special  care  for  the  next  Sunday  evening,  only  to  find  that  Rev.  Mr.  Catch-the- 
crowd  across  the  way  was  billed  to  preach  on  "How  To  Be  Happy  Though 
Married,"  and  that  his  sheep  have  all  gone  a-grazing  in  his  neighbor's  pasture. 
Now  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  has  not  banished  all  this,  but  it  has  done 
two  things.  In  scores  of  cases,  and  almost  wherever  the  pastor  has  cordially 
identified  himself  with  it,  it  has  inspired  him  with  the  comforting  certainty  that 
he  has  a  loyal  band  who  would  be  proof  against  all  such  enticements  to  church- 
wandering,  and  on  whose  loyalty  to  their  church  and  its  services  their  pastor 
and  fellow  members  could  depend  at  all  hazards.  And  in  the  next  place,  it  is 
constantly  instilling  the  idea  of  unflinching  loyalty  to  the  local  church  and  its 
interests,  and  faithful  attendance  upon  all  its  services,  into  the  hearts  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  those  who  will  make  up  the  church  membership  of 
the  next  generation. 

But  this  "support  of  church  services"  means  more  than  your  mere  presence 
there ;  it  includes  the  enlistment  of  your  social  talents  on  the  side  of  Christ  and 
his  Church.  Professor  Wells  has  recently  written  an  admirable  little  book,  with 
a  still  more  admirable  title:  "  Social  to  Save."  That  is  a  Christian  Endeavor 
idea  in  large  part,  —  that  social  pursuits  should  be  made  a  means  of  grace, 
should  be  utilized  for  soul-winning.  Not  social  merely  for  "  fun,"  but  social  "  to 
save."  And  the  important  bearing  of  this  upon  my  subject  will  be  seen  at 
once,  when  you  remember  that  the  social  atmosphere  of  a  congregation  often 
does  more  to  win  or  repel  souls  than  the  pastor's  best  sermons. 

There  are  some  churches  whose  social  atmosphere  is  so  Arctic  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  tell  whether  they  remind  you  more  of  a  cold-storage  warehouse  or  an  ice- 
factory.  I  have  read  of  a  poor  fellow  who  was  drowning.  One  standing  near- 
by ran  to  his  rescue,  and  picking  up  a  plank,  as  the  first  thing  available,  he 
pushed  it  out  over  the  ice  through  which  the  drowning  man  had  broken,  and 
called  to  him  to  lay  hold  of  it.  He  tried  to,  but  the  end  toward  him  was  coated 
with  ice,  and  his  grasp  slipped,  until  in  desperation  he  cried,  "  In  God's  name 
give  me  the  end  of  the  plank  that  has  no  ice  on  it."  And  how  many  a  one  has 
reiterated  that  cry  in  our  churches  when  repelled  by  our  cold  and  formal  greet- 
ing, if  they  even  got  that!  You  have  heard  of  that  commercial  traveller  who 
dropped  into  a  church  of  his  own  denomination  in  a  distant  city  one  Sunday 
morning.  He  felt  a  little  touch  of  homesickness,  and  longed  for  the  cordial 
greeting  of  fraternal  fellowship  from  some  Christian  who,  though  he  might  be 
a  stranger  in  the  flesh,  could  be  recognized  as  a  joint  heir  of  the  kingdom.  No 
one  responded  to  the  wish  of  his  heart,  either  before  or  after  the  service.  He 
determined  to  make  the  advance  himself,  so,  standing  at  the  end  of  his  pew,  as 
the  congregation  filed  out,  taking  no  notice  of  him,  he  accosted  a  pleasant-faced 
old  gentleman,  saying,  "Are  you  a  member  of  this  congregation.?"  The  man 
answered,  "  Yes,  sir,  I  am  a  deacon ;  but  you  have  the  advantage  of  me,  I  do  not 
remember  ever  having  met  you,"  and  passed  on  out. 

And  in  this  way  the  members  of  our  churches  often  lose  opportunities  for 
social  effort  for  Christ,  and  in  support  of  the  services  of  their  church.  It  is  the 
aim  of  our  Endeavor  Societies  first  of  all  to  help  the  young  to  cultivate  the 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  239 

social  graces,  and  to  teach  them  to  look  upon  them  as  talents  held  in  trust  for 
the  Master. 

No  pastor  can  have  a  more  important  ally  in  his  efforts  to  develop  and 
improve  church  attendance,  and  to  make  the  services  more  inspiring  and  help- 
ful, than  is  right  at  hand  in  his  Young  People's  Society,  if  he  is  able  and  willing 
to  utilize  it  for  these  purposes. 

The  last  speaker  vi^as  Rev.  W.  H.  York,  of  Ithaca,  N,  Y.,  a  long- 
time friend  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  a  pastor  of  a  Methodist  Church. 
His  topic  was   "  Public  Confession." 

Address  of  Rev.  W.  H.  York,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

There  are  two  vital  elements  in  public  confession.  One  is  the  manner  of  its 
expression  and  the  other  is  its  constituent  composition. 

Some  have  tried  to  quiet  their  consciences  with  the  idea  that  their  duty  was 
done  if  they  lived  in  such  a  way  as  to  exemplify  the  teachings  of  the  Master. 
They  forget  that  there  are  about  them  a  multitude  of  those  whose  lives  may  be 
blameless,  who  are  totally  opposed  to  Christianity,  So  great  has  been  the 
power  of  the  Gospel  in  our  land  that  multitudes  have  been  unconsciously  in- 
fluenced by  it,  and  they  are  shining  like  the  moon  by  a  borrowed  light,  but, 
alas !  like  the  moon,  are  destitute  of  life.  They  forget  that  a  witness  who 
refuses  to  testify  may  be  a  positive  hurt  to  the  case  when  it  goes  to  the  jury. 
Christian  Endeavor  defines  public  confession  as  taking  some  part  aside  from 
singing, —  a  verbal  testimony  given  personally  ;  or,  in  case  of  necessary  absence,  a 
written  testimony  may  be  given. 

It  does  not  for  a  moment  admit  that  the  full  duty  is  done  when  a  song  has 
been  sung  or  a  number  called  out  for  the  rest  to  sing. 

Much  care  should  be  given  to  the  composition  of  a  testimony,  for  such  is  the 
carelessness  of  some  in  this  respect  that  it  would  have  been  better  sometimes 
that  no  testimony  had  been  attempted.  We  are  to  avoid  the  public  confession 
of  private  sins.  Ofttimes  the  influence  of  a  meeting  is  seriously  injured  by  the 
indiscreet  publications  of  private  matters.  The  account  of  a  long  line  of  fail- 
ures in  one's  attempt  to  serve  the  Master  may  do  serious  harm  to  the  cause, 
while  a  long,  inopportune  exhortation  to  others  about  their  failures  may  fail  to 
help  the  interest  of  the  meeting  or  the  cause. 

A. public  testimony  should  be,  first,  a  clear  statement  of  personal  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  then  a  firm  testimony  of  an  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
saving  power  of  this  faith. 

The  apostle  said,  ''  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  for  it  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation."  We  are  also  to  confess  our  great  love  for 
Christ.  The  need  of  a  public  confession  may  be  seen  in  our  own  lives,  for  the 
very  beginning  of  a  Christian  life  involves  a  confession  of  Christ.  You  can  not 
have  fire  without  heat;  no  more  can  you  have  a  true  Christian  fire  in  your  soul 
without  some  warmth  being  felt  by  others.  Public  confession  is  essential  for 
the  perpetuity  of  this  experience.  It  is  but  a  step  from  silent  discipleship  to 
indifference  and  doubt,  then  open  denial.  Public  confession  of  the  help 
Christ  gives  us  helps  to  continue  humility  and  to  remind  us  from  whence 
Cometh  our  strength.  But  more  than  all  else,  our  hope  of  heaven  is  closely 
allied  to  a  confession  of  Christ.  The  Master  says,  "  Whosoever  shall  confess 
me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  confess  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven;  but 
whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven." 

Our  personal  influence  will  be  measured  by  our  public  confession  of  Christ. 
There  is  a  vast  difference  between  a  guide-board  standing  by  the  roadside, 
with  its  mute  utterance,  and  an  intelligent,  communicative  guide  that  can 
answer  our  questions.  Justice  to  our  Master  demands  that  we  give  testimony 
for  him.  Of  the  ten  lepers  that  were  healed,  only  one  returned  to  acknowledge 
the  power  of  the  Master.  How  sad  must  have  been  his  heart  as  he  witnessed 
their  ingratitude  when  he  said,  "  Where  are  the  nine  ? " 


240  Official  Report  of  the 

It  is  sometimes  given  as  an  excuse  that  diffidence  is  so  great  that  the  testi- 
mony will  be  unworthy  so  kind  a  friend  ;  but  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  out  of 
the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh.  If  the  heart  is  filled  to  over- 
flowing it  will  find  that  testifying  for  the  Master  is  a  delight  and  a  privilege. 

Some  falter  because  they  realize  that  their  life  is  not  what  it  should  be;  the 
remedy  is  easy, —  correct  the  life.  It  may  be  that  this  faltering  comes  from  a 
false  humility  and  we  are  mistaken  about  ourselves.  Genuine  humility  does 
not  hinder  service,  but  adds  to  its  value. 

But  the  most  common  hindrance  to  public  testimony  is  the  habit  of  silence. 
One  has  come  to  feel  they  have  no  duty  to  do,  and  so  think  nothing  about  it 
and  almost  feel  it  an  intrusion  if  the  matter  is  brought  to  their  attention.  The 
recurrence  of  neglected  opportunities  soon  stifles  conviction  of  duty  and  they 
drift  on  heedlessly.  The  revelation  of  the  value  of  a  human  soul  and  their 
responsibility  for  keeping  silent  ought  to  stir  the  most  sluggish.  If  we  would 
only  realize  that  our  testimony  is  an  effort  to  throw  out  the  life-line,  and  that 
if  we  fail  to  do  this  we  are  in  a  measure  responsible,  it  may  help  us  to  overcome 
the  hindrances  that  cause  us  to  falter. 

New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  attractions  elsewhere  had  little  or  no  effect  upon  the  attendance 
at  the  meeting  at  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  for  the 
church  was  crowded  to  the  doors,  and  the  large  audience  enjoyed  two 
admirable  addresses  on  the  topic  of  the  day,  "  Saved  to  Serve,"  excel- 
lent singing,  and  a  very  interesting  discussion  of  how  best  to  serve  the 
pastor. 

Major  Charles  A.  Bird,  U.  S.  A.,  presided  over  the  meeting,  and  the 
chorus  of  some  seventy  voices  was  led  by  Director  J.  A,  Rose,  render- 
ing in  a  splendid  manner  many  beautiful  selections  during  the  twenty 
minutes'  praise  meeting  which  preceded  the  devotional  exercises  con- 
ducted by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  North,  of  Anacostia.  As  the  first  speaker  of 
the  evening,  the  chairman  introduced  the  Rev,  Asher  Anderson,  of 
Meriden,  Conn.,  who  addressed  himself  to  the  subject  of  "  How  May 
the  Society  Help  the  Pastor  ? " 

Address  of  Rev.  Asher  Anderson,  Meriden,  Conn. 

A  correct  answer  to  the  question  will  bring  us  to  the  very  root  of  things  in 
Endeavor  life.  Indeed,  if  we  do  not  mistake  the  purpose  of  the  organization 
in  its  inception,  it  was  almost  assuredly  the  object  our  beloved  president  had  in 
view  when  he  gathered  the  young  people  of  his  parish  in  his  parlor  in  Portland, 
that  in  training  them  for  Christian  work  they  might  become  the  most  useful 
possible  in  the  church  of  which  he  was  the  pastor.  Like  all  true  pastors,  he 
not  only  saw  the  great  need  of  developing  the  lives  of  young  Christians  in  the 
work  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  he  also  realized  most  profoundly  how 
necessary  trained  workers  were  if  he  himself  would  accompHsh  any  permanent 
results  in  the  larger  field  of  his  Church. 

It  will  be  a  revelation  to  some,  I  know,  if  I  say  that  the  pastor  needs  the  help 
of  his  young  people.  To  a  large  extent  does  it  obtain  with  churches,  that  it  is 
the  individual  member  who  needs  the  pastor;  although  he  does  not  consider 
the  very  important  fact  that  the  pastor  needs  him  just  so  much.  There  ought 
to  come  a  time  when  the  Christian  who  has  been  educated  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  made  strong  in  the  spiritual  truths  of  the 
religious  life,  and  to  whom  has  been  discovered  the  wonderful  opportunities  for 
splendid  service,  should,  instead  of  making  such  large  demands  upon  the  pas- 
tor's resources,  himself  provide  for  the  pastor,  that  the  strength  of  his  mmistry 
might  be  greatly  increased. 


Fifteenth  hiternatio7ial  Convention.  241 

We  do  not  expect  in  the  home  that  children  will  remain  babies,  never  grow- 
ing beyond  the  solicitous  attention  of  wearied  mothers.  We  do  not  expect  that 
a  young  man  entering  upon  a  business  career  will  never  get  away  from  the  par- 
ticular instruction  of  his  employer.  Yet  what  appears  to  us  so  unnatural  in 
every  other  sphere  seems  to  be  the  natural  thing  in  the  life  and  work  of  the 
Church.  Babies  are  all  right,  interesting,  and  full  of  promise;  but  babies 
grow.  Some  babies  presently  get  large  enough  to  cast  aside  swaddling-clothes 
and  the  nursery  bottle,  large  enough  to  be  profoundly  ashamed  of  baby  talk; 
but  how  many  spiritual  babies  there  are  in  our  churches,  who,  if  they  were  in  their 
right  places,  would  be  in  the  promising  department  of  the  Sunday  school.  Think 
for  a  moment  of  the  years  through  which  they  have  listened  to  good,  plain, 
helpful  preaching;  think  how  long  they  have  been  in  the  Sunday  school  study- 
ing the  Bible;  and  they  are  still  without  religious  doctrine  that  is  definite,  or 
spiritual  faculty  that  is  resourceful  for  service.  I  was  told  only  the  other  day 
of  a  man  who  had  been  identified  with  the  Church  from  his  childhood,  and  was 
a  principal  of  one  of  the  public  schools  of  his  city,  who  asked  his  pastor  in  all 
seriousness  how  old  Jesus  was  when  he  preached  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
remarking  that  he  must  have  been  about  twelve  years  of  age.  And  the  various 
agencies  which  are  employed  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church  are  certainly 
sufficient  to  create  a  good  deal  more  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  members 
than  the  average  member  illustrates. 

The  most  inconsistent  thing  in  the  Lord's  universe  is  an  endowed  soul  ceas- 
ing to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  most  discourag- 
ing element  in  Church  life  is  the  spirit  which  sets  aside  the  importance  of 
coming  up  to  "  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  And  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  no  element  that  is  at  once  so  inspiring  and  so  helpful  to 
an  ambitious  pastor  as  the  spirit  which,  like  the  noble  Bereans,  gives  itself  to 
study  to  know  whether  these  things  are  so  or  not. 

Those  are  the  workers  in  the  Church  and  the  great  helpers  to  the  pastor  who 
know  the  most  about  their  Bibles.  Like  all  (}aul,  a  church  may  be  divided 
into  three  parts:  one  seeks  for  reasons  to  oppose  the  pastor;  another  is  indif- 
ferent, and  a  third  part  works  in  the  cause.  The  Christian  Endeavor  stands  to 
develop  intelligent  Bible  workers.  It  makes  the  pastor's  work  very  hard  if 
doctrine  goes  without  being  inculcated,  if  nourishment  is  given  without  becom- 
ing assimilated,  or  if  direction  is  given  without  response  in  service.  It  is  in  the 
help  given  to  a  pastor  that  the  Society  really  justifies  its  existence.  To  be  con- 
spicuous solely  as  an  Endeavor  Society,  to  have  no  reference  to  the  larger 
work  of  the  Church  life,  is  totally  contrary  to  both  the  genius  and  end  of  the 
Endeavor  movement.  I  am  not  telling  any  tales  out  of  school  when  I  say  that 
not  a  few  pastors  have  found  a  preference  bestowed  upon  the  Endeavor  meet- 
ing and  not  upon  the  services  of  the  church.  Wherever  that  is  known^  the 
Endeavor  Society  fails  of  its  purpose  and  had  better  disband.  Nothing  is  so 
natural  to  life  as  activity.  The  absence  of  force  is  proof  that  vitality  has  ceased, 
and  from  these  the  society  that  is  not  doing  anything  gives  proof  that  it  does 
not  really  exist.  The  constitution  may  be  carefully  formulated;  the  pledge 
may  hang  like  a  beautiful  painting  on  the  wall ;  a  number  of  names  may  be  on 
the  roll ;  but  if  that  great  work  wished  for  and  planned  by  a  wise,  judicious 
pastor  is  not  accomplished  it  is  not  a  genuine  Endeavor  Society  and  does  not 
deserve  to  be  called  by  that  name. 

A  soul  for  hearty  service  in  this  cause  must  be  dominated  by  the  Divine 
Spirit,  willing  to  serve,  ambitious  to  fill  some  place  ;  and  only  under  the  bless- 
ing of  that  Spirit  will  any  Endeavor  member  make  what  is  oftentimes  too  much 
a  form.  Nor  can  we  come  to  the  place  where  our  consecration  will  be  helpful, 
except  we  have  received  that  blessing.  Let  us  compare  the  careers  of  Wolsey 
and  St.  Paul,  the  sad  lament  of  the  politician  who  lost  all  for  temporal  glory, 
with  that  of  the  Christian  servant  whose  joyful  acclaim  was,  "  I  have  fought  the 
good  fight."  For  Paul's  end,  if  we  could  conceive  the  basis  of  it,  we  must  go 
back  to  the  time  when,  flooded  with  the  vision  which  fell  upon  him,  he  cried 
out,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  " 


242  Official  Report  of  the 

Mr.  Anderson's  remarks  were  followed  by  a  duet,  "  Saved  by  Grace," 
finely  sung  by  the  Rev.  B.  F.  Lamb  and  Miss  Ella  Knight.  Then  Mr. 
J.  H.  Banton,  of  Waco,  Tex.,  was  introduced  to  conduct  an  open  par- 
liament on  the  line  of  Mr.  Anderson's  subject.  Remarks  were 
limited  to  a  minute,  and  many  interesting  suggestions  were  made  dur- 
ing the  ten  or  twelve  minutes  allowed.  One  stated  that  her  pastor  was 
helped  by  the  Christian  Endeavorers  making  a  special  point  of  coming 
to  church  when  the  weather  was  so  bad  that  few  other  people  would 
go.  Another  explained  that  he  came  to  Washington  at  personal  incon- 
venience to  represent  his  pastor.  One  pastor  was  helped  by  excur- 
sion socials  held  to  raise  funds  to  pay  his  way  to  Washington.  Then 
another  was  helped  by  one  of  his  congregation  seeing  to  it  that  stran- 
gers were  brought  to  the  church  and  made  welcome,  and  so  on  the  sug- 
gestions ran. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Lamb  sang  a  solo  in  a  very  pleasing  manner,  and  the 
last  speaker  of  the  evening  was  introduced,  the  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Boston,  whose  topic  was  "  How  May  the  Pastor 
Help  the  Society?" 

Address  of  Rev.  Scott  F.  Hershey,  Ph.D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

In  this  magnificent  sunset  hour  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  are  rejoicing  in 
the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  of  the  prophet  Joel.  Young  men  and  women 
are  weaving  into  the  meshes  of  every-day  life,  spiritual  and  immortal  dreams. 
If  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  the  classic  countries  of  Eastern  Europe  in  the 
first  century  was  of  God;  if  the  patriotic  and  moral,  the  intellectual  and  relig- 
ious, new  birth  of  Central  and  Western  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  from 
God;  if  the  great  missionary  age  inaugurated  in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  came  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,  then  is  the  movement  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  rising  so  strangely  and  growing  so  rapidly  at  the  end  of  this 
century,  an  unseen  but  not  unfelt  ocean  wave  of  divine  truth,  inspiration,  and 
power,  which  had  its  rise  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross. 

The  Lord  moves  swiftly  sometimes  on  his  operative  providences,  and  works 
on  a  large  scale  ;  as  when  he  led  a  nation  out  of  Egypt,  or  gave  to  his  church  at 
Jerusalem  its  first  Pentecost. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  movement  is  a  new  Pentecost,  which  has  fallen 
from  God  upon  the  young  people  of  our  churches.  Identified  with  this  organ- 
ized effort  in  Christian  life  and  work  are  a  great  majority  of  the  most  pious  and 
consecrated  of  our  young  people.  They  constitute  the  volunteer  arm  of  the 
Christian  activity  of  the  Church,  and  the  recruiting  is  unremittingly  going  on. 
Full  of  life,  consecrated  in  purpose,  ready  for  duty,  these  raw  recruits  stand 
with  the  experienced  Christians,  and  are  just  as  ready  to  be  instructed,  trained, 
drilled  for  the  service  of  the  Master  and  for  usefulness  in  their  day  and  genera- 
tion. What  can  the  pastor  do  for  these  willing  and  waiting  young  men  and 
maidens  to  bring  and  keep  their  life  and  action  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  and 
mission  of  the  Church  and  the  will  of  God?  They  want  to  be  loyal  to  the 
Church,  true  to  duty,  and  faithful  in  Christian  life.  What  can  the  pastor  do  to 
help  them  ? 

He  must  win  them  to  himself,  as  the  proper  leader  in  Christian  life  and  work. 
Sympathies,  most  cordial  in  character  and  strong  in  confidence,  must  speedily 
be  established.  Personal  attachments  must  be  formed,  so  strong  that  they 
may  rightfully  be  characterized  by  the  word  "friendship  "  —  aye,  even  by  the 
word  "  love." 

Personal  devotion  for,  personal  interest  in,  and  personal  remembrance  of 
their  followers  show  the  secret  spring  of  the  personal  power  of  the  great  lead- 
ers of  the  world.     Socrates  mingled  socially  with  his  pupils  in  the  Athenian 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  243 

gardens  ;  Jesus  bathed  with  the  cool  water  the  tired  feet  of  his  disciples  ;  Paul 
identified  with  himself  in  the  work  his  followers;  and  in  the  last  chapter  of 
Romans  he  makes  kindly  mention,  as  he  holds  in  loving  remembrance,  thirty- 
two  of  them. 

If  the  pastor  has  so  won  his  Christian  Endeavor  Society  his  young  people 
are  ready  as  his  pupils  to  receive  his  teaching.  If  he  has  reached  their  hearts 
they  are  prepared  to  sit  under  his  words.  And  here,  commensurate  with  his 
opportunity  to  teach  the  values,  the  sublimities,  and  the  hopes  of  the  Gospel,  is 
his  responsibility  to  teach  that  Gospel  as  it  flows  from  the  well-springs  of  truth 
and  undefiled  by  human  theorizing. 

The  sole  effective  remedy  for  the  ills  of  life  and  the  evils  of  the  country  is 
the  redemptive  truth  of  the  Lord.  The  pastor  must  have  ideals  of  conscience, 
of  duty,  and  of  life.  The  heroes  of  patience,  endurance,  perseverance,  and 
suffering,  from  Joseph  to  Paul,  and  from  ancient  martyr  to  modern  missionary, 
must  be  examples  of  those  ideals  each  of  which  is  being  duplicated  in  Christian 
life  about  us.  He  must  have  hanging  in  the  picture  gallery  of  his  mind,  and 
cherish  in  his  heart,  the  high  ideals  of  the  Madonnas  of  art,  the  Beatrices  of 
literature,  and  the  Jeanne  d'Arcs  of  devotion;  and  the  Jenny  Linds  and  Flor- 
ence Nightingales  and  Clara  Bartons  of  charity  and  service. 

If  they  are  given  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ,  unadulterated  and  undiluted, 
both  as  touching  the  degrading  forces  of  sin  and  the  elevating  forces  of 
righteousness,  there  will  be  an  accentuated  Christian  life,  in  which  men  and 
women  will  stand  for  both  righteousness  and  right  with  increased  emphasis. 

Leading  young  life  into  sweeter  and  holier  ways  of  affection,  into  richer 
experiences  with  grace  and  truth,  into  higher  ranges  of  meditation,  into  loftier 
aspirations,  into,  greater  attachment  for  and  clearer  understanding  of  the  Word 
of  life,  into  more  sun-lighted  walks  of  trust,  into  more  force  and  strength  of 
Christian  character,  into  happier  and  more  joyful  and  more  hopeful  natures, 
and  as  a  crown  over  all,  into  a  larger  and  more  blessed  service  for  God  among 
men, —  if  this  be  not  the  greatest  and  happiest  field  for  the  exercise  of  leader- 
ship, then,  indeed,  are  the  aspirations  of  a  pastor  carnal  and  not  pious. 

The  call  now  is  for  more  intelligent  loyalty  to  the  Church  to  which  we  be- 
long. It  may  sound  strange,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  in  no  denomina- 
tion is  denominational  loyalty  so  lightly  regarded  as  in  Presbyterianism. 
Though  considered  doctrinally  narrow  and  somewhat  creed-bound,  the  passage 
into  other  communions  is  easier  than  is  found  in  other  denominations,  or  from 
other  denominations  into  ours.  People  of  wealth  and  liberality  among  Presby- 
terians make  large  and  frequent  gifts  to  interdenominational  institutions  and 
to  other  denominations;  we  put  no  questions  about  a  subscription  to  a  creed 
to  those  seeking  admission  into  our  communion.  There  will  be  no  disloyalty  if 
pastors  rightly  teach  the  history,  explain  the  triumph,  and  point  out  the  glory 
of  Presbyterianism.  In  contributing  both  to  the  spirit  and  form  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  representative  government  and  equalities  of  law  in  the  new 
empire  of  the  western  continent,  Presbyterianism  has  won  remarkable  testi- 
mony from  jurists,  statesmen,  and  literati,  from  Burke  and  Macaulay  to  Carlyle 
and  Bancroft. 

There  is  another  side  of  Christian  Endeavor  duty  where  the  pastor's  leader- 
ship must  neither  be  mistaken  nor  misunderstood.  Next  to  love  of  God  is  love 
of  country.  Stalwart  religion  and  true  patriotism  go  about  over  the  world,  and 
have  come  down  through  the  past  hand  in  hand.  No  one  will  look  to  the  pul- 
pit to  take  the  lead  in  the  controversy  over  the  tariff  or  currency  or  mere  ad- 
ministrative economy;  but  the  very  logic  of  consistency  requires  that  in  every 
great  struggle  over  a  moral  cause,  in  which  is  involved  the  complete  circle  of 
those  moral  interests  which  most  affect  the  welfare  of  the  people,  the  mainte- 
nance of  free  institutions,  the  preservation  of  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  individ- 
ual conscience,  and  in  all  that  is  closely  related  to  the  salvation  of  souls,  the 
pulpit  must  go  in  advance  in  creating  sentiment  and  leading  in  action.  Here 
no  minister  dare  abdicate  his  leadership  without  humiliating  himself  before  the 
throne  of  his  own  manhood  and  becoming  an  imbecile  in  the  judgment  of  all 
right-hearted  and  right-minded  people. 


244  Official  Report  of  the 

The  young  people  of  Christian  Endeavor,  in  all  the  denominations,  will 
thank  me  for  saying  to-night  that  they  are  ready  to  proclaim  that  there  must  be 
no  more  war  between  Christian  nations,  but  instead,  a  high  sovereign  court  of 
the  nations,  permanently  sitting  for  the  peaceful  settlement  of  all  international 
frictions;  that  the  saloon  must  be  driven  from  the  strongholds  of  political  dom- 
ination at  the  ballot-box,  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  the  courts  of  justice  ;  that 
demagogues  in  financial  and  civil  circles  shall  be  held  up  with  increasing  dis- 
approval before  the  scorn  of  righteous  judgment,  and  that  all  interference  with 
organic  forms  of  law,  and  all  attempted  subversions  of  free  institutions  and 
general  intelligence,  whether  arising  from  Mammonism,  Mormonism,  or  Roman- 
ism, must  cease  absolutely,  so  that  the  nation  may  fear  God,  keep  his  statutes, 
and  enter  upon  the  twentieth  century  the  safeguard  of  liberties  of  the  world 
and  the  guaranty  of  the  peace  of  the  earth. 

Central  Hall. 

The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Prof.  J.  L.  Howe,  of  Lexington,  Va, 
After  the  praise  service,  led  by  Mr.  Charles  S,  Clark,  and  Rev.  H.  R. 
Naylor,  D.D.,had  read  the  devotional  service,  Prof.  Howe  introduced 
Bishop  J.  W.  Hott,  D.D.,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  lo.,  who  spoke  on  "  The 
Individual  Responsibility  of  Soul-Winning." 

Address  of  Bishop  J.  W.  Hott,  D.D.,  Cedar  Rapids,  lo. 

What  is  it  to  win  a  soul  ?  It  is  to  put  in  the  soul  a  motive  and  an  inspiration, 
and  about  the  soul  an  influence  and  power,  which,  combined,  will  cause  it  to 
follow  these  enticements. 

To  win  a  soul  to  Christ  is  to  bring  into  and  about  that  soul  so  much  of 
Christ  as  will  draw  it  away  from  sin  and  attach  it  permanently  to  Christ.  The 
soul  left  to  itself  will  never  come  to  God. 

The  purpose  and  plan  of  all  grace  shown  in  the  Christian  system  is  to  so  touch 
the  soul  by  all  influences  that  the  strongest  motives  and  solicitations  to  accept 
Jesus  as  the  one  and  all-sufficient  Saviour  may  be  brought  to  bear  effectively  in 
human  salvation. 

What  is  the  great  inspiration  to  be  stirred  in  the  human  soul  1  What  is  the 
supreme  power  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  heart  of  our  fellow  man  to  lead 
him  to  Christ? 

There  are  many  things  that  may  be  done  and  ought  to  be  done.  One  thing 
tnust  be  done.  Jesus  Christ  must  be  so  represented  to  the  soul  as  to  attract 
and  draw  it  to  himself.  We  exhort  too  soon  and  present  Christ  too  imper- 
fectly. This  revelation  of  Christ  will  show  the  soul  its  own  need  of  him.  He 
is  not  only  the  soul's  supply,  but  he  creates  the  demand.  This  shows  a  saving 
Christ, —  a  soul-cleansing,  soul-renewing,  soul-inspiring  Christ. 

The  perfect  attestations  of  Christ  before  the  bar  of  the  human  conscience 
by  his  chosen  agencies  and  representatives  will  do  all  that  God  can  do  in  win- 
ning a  soul  from  sin  and  death.  He  is  the  face  of  beauty,  the  heart  of  love,  the 
smile  of  heaven,  the  welcome  of  God,  that  can  alone  call  the  soul  out  of  itself 
into  God.     Jesus  said,  "  If  I  be  lifted  up,  I  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

To  make  this  presentation  is,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  supreme  business  of  every  true  believer  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  the  great 
work  of  the  Church  on  earth.  To  it  every  member  of  the  Church  is  personally- 
bound  with  indissoluble  bonds.  Men  are  not  saved  by  herds  but  by  indi- 
viduals. These  are  not  employed  in  saving  others  in  other  ways  than  as  indi- 
viduals. 

I.     The  basis  of  this  personal  respojisibitity  for  soiil-saving. 

I.  It  is  not  in  organization.  Oro;anization  and  organized  Christian  society 
are  only  the  aggregation  or  synthesis  of  individualism  and  individual  responsi- 
bility. It  is  to  be  feared  that  sometimes  we  enter  organization  with  the  de- 
lusive idea  that   we  shall  lose  or  perhaps  pool  our  personal  responsibilities. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  245 

But  we  can  not  make  even  the  most  splendid  organization  reach  further  than 
the  stretch  of  individuaUty  combined  in  an  aggregation  of  power.  The  basis 
of  all  responsibility  is  in  the  individual,  and  so  is  purely  personal. 

May  the  importance  of  this  theme  be  emphasized  as  it  is  brought  before  us 
in  this  Christian  Endeavor  Convention.  There  is  a  growing  sense  of  responsi- 
bility in  the  use  of  money, —  Christian  stewardship, —  and  it  is  well.  There  is  a 
sincere  interest  in  the  work  of  education  in  all  departments,  and  the  cause  of 
good  citizenship  enlists  our  hearts,  while  we  have  a  profound  sympathy  for 
the  heathen  world.  All  this  is  intensely  well.  But  while  men  feel  that  they 
must  do  greater  things  in  these  fields,  we  must  emphasize  the  fact  that  the 
greatest  of  all  work  is  soul-saving.  We  can  not  do  this  by  paying  money 
alone,  or  by  proxy.  To  this  work  we  are  held  personally  responsible.  God 
does  not  take  substitutes  for  us  in  the  great  work  of  winning  souls. 

2.  It  lies  in  our  adaptation  to  the  work.  There  is  a  utilitarian  argument  we 
can  not  but  reckon  with.  What  ought  to  be  done  at  all  ought  to  be  done  in  the 
best  way  and  by  the  means  best  adapted  to  its  doing.  Primary  obligation  rests 
there.  The  use  of  human  methods  by  the  Lord  is  an  old  subject  for  theology. 
For  us,  as  the  organization  of  the  young  of  all  Christendom,  the  question  is  a 
practical  one. 

You  all  know  this  work  is  largely  with  the  young.  It  is  the  young  we  hope 
to  reach  in  our  homes,  in  our  churches,  in  the  country,  in  the  hamlets,  and  in 
the  great  cities.  It  is  so  in  most  of  the  foreign  mission  fields  I  have  visited. 
This  is  the  age  of  the  young. 

The  use  of  the  young,  with  their  power  and  methods,  shows  God's  plan.  He 
takes  the  practical  and  simple  and  natural  and  emphasizes  its  power  and 
makes  its  ministry  divine  and  mighty.  In  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement, 
this  is  no  longer  a  theory  but  an  attested  fact.  Thousands  of  pastors  in  all 
parts  of  the  world  testify  to  the  power  of  the  young  people's  organization  in 
leading  souls  to  Christ.  They  are  the  very  hand-touch  of  Christ.  I  once  looked 
a  long  time  at  a  painting  in  one  of  the  galleries  of  Berlin,  Germany,  represent- 
ing the  raising  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  by  Jesus.  The  picture  is  a  beautiful 
one.  The  calm  Christ  is  the  central  figure.  Beside  him  are  the  father  and 
mother,  whose  faces  of  inexpressible  sorrow,  agony,  and  anxiety  one  can  never 
forget.  Near-by  are  the  three  disciples.  The  half-grown  maiden  is  just  waking 
from  the  sleep  of  death,  as  the  hand  of  Jesus  is  reached  out  to  help  her. 
Somehow,  as  poor  a  critic  of  art  as  I  am.  I  could  not  help  but  feel  a  weakness 
in  the  picture.  I  recalled  a  work  of  one  of  the  master's,  I  think  Kranach, 
which  I  had  seen  in  the  Crocker  Art  Gallery  in  Sacramento,  Cal.  It  presents 
the  same  scene  in  almost  all  the  details,  only  in  it  Jesus  has  taken  hold  of  the 
maiden,  and  she  is  alive.  It  is  true  to  Christ.  And  he  "took  her  by  the  hand, 
and  the  damsel  arose."  That  touch  has  warmth  and  life  in  it.  The  young 
people's  organizations  are  the  warm  hand-grasp  of  Jesus  and  the  Church. 
Without  that  touch  the  picture  is  weak  and  defective.  What  personal  responsi- 
bility if  your  hand  fails  in  the  grasping  of  some  soul  nearest  you! 

The  direct  command  of  God  no  Christian  can  disregard  without  disloyalty 
to  him.  The  Bible  plainly  shows  us  that  we  are  our  brother's  keeper.  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,"  as  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  upon  the  ears  of  the  disciples 
on  the  unknown  mountain  of  Galilee,  falls  still  on  our  ears  upon  whom  these 
ends  of  the  world  have  come,  with  a  no  less  power.  After  over  i,8oo  years  we 
are  just  beginning  to  see  and  feel  what  Christ  really  is  to  this  old  world,  and 
what  his  commission  really  means.  He  is  still  and  now  more  alive  than  ever 
before.  In  our  parlance  we  have  put  it,  "  Go,  or  send;  "  the  facts  are  we  must 
do  both.  You  know  the  command;  why  should  I  dwell  upon  it  at  length  ? 
What  have  we  to  do  but  to  obey  ? 

II.  What  are  sotne  of  the  fruits  of  a  sense  of  this  personal  responsibility  of 
soul-saving  ? 

I.  Deep  humility  before  God.  Who  can  do  this  work.?  It  must  be  done 
under  God's  directions,  by  his  methods,  and  all  to  his  glory.  We  are  nothing. 
All  our  success  will  be  due  to  God,  and  all  power  and  honor  his.  A  proud, 
boastful,  self-sufficient  spirit  or  self-praising  spirit  is  shameful  in  the  professed 


246  Official  Report  of  the 

Christian.  The  prince  who  came  into  the  death-chamber  of  his  father  the 
king  wearing  his  crown,  to  see  how  it  would  fit,  was  asked  to  wait  till  the  king 
was  dead  before  putting  on  the  crown.  As  long  as  God  lives  it  becomes  us  to 
go  humbly  about  our  work.     Let  Jesus  wear  the  crown. 

2.  It  should  lead  us  to  the  largest  possible  preparation  for  this  greatest  of 
all  works.  He  who  has  a  note  in  bank  to  meet  will  strive  to  meet  it  promptly. 
He  who  feels  this  responsibility  will  gird  himself  for  the  task. 

3.  Personal  acquaintance  and  familiarity  with  the  Christ  we  are  to  represent 
to  others.  Intelligent  and  reasonable  men  will  not  readily  follow  mere  philos- 
ophies in  matters  of  religion,  and  especially  that  which  pertains  to  giving  up  of 
sin  and  to  faith  unto  salvation.  Speculation  in  spiritual  things  does  not  reach 
men's  hearts.  Paul  was  a  great  soul-winner.  Though  he  was  a  mighty  reasoner, 
he  would  now  belong  to  the  realistic  type,  and  not  the  idealistic.  He  would 
often  exclaim,  "  We  know."  He  put  this  down  in  the  most  trying  conditions  and 
places  and  rested  all  upon  his  vision  of  Jesus.  In  this  "  we  know "'  he  was  like 
his  Master,  however  different  may  have  been  their  methods  of  knowing  or 
sources  of  knowledge.  This  personal  knowledge  includes  the  Word  of  God  so 
constantly  emphasized  in  these  great  gatherings. 

4.  It  means  that  we  are  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  by  constant 
communion  with  him.  I  once  climbed  down  into  the  cell  of  awful  gloom  in 
which  Lord  Byron  had  himself  incarcerated  all  night,  before  he  would  write  his 
soulful  description  of  Venice,  the  Prison,  and  the  Bridge  of  Sighs.  If  he  would 
thus  be  shut  in  with  the  gloom  of  death  that  his  soul  might  be  chastened  with 
horror  of  horrors,  how  much  rather  should  we,  conscious  of  our  personal  respon- 
sibility for  the  saving  of  souls,  be  shut  in  with  Christ,  and  filled  with  him  and 
his  Spirit,  when  all  our  success  will  depend  upon  the  faithfulness  with  which 
we  should  represent  him  to  our  fellow  men  ! 

5.  Personal  responsibility  means  personal  work  in  soul-winning.  It  is  this 
delusive  idea  of  soul-saving  in  masses  that  opens  the  way  for  the  neglect  and 
loss  of  the  individual.  Jesus  preached  his  first  sermon  to  one  man,  Nicodemus, 
one  of  the  Sanhedrin.  His  next  great  recorded  sermon  is  to  a  lone  woman  of 
the  Samaritans  at  the  well  of  Jacob.  We  may  learn  some  good  lessons  from 
him.  Often  the  great  sermon  of  nowadays  is  lost  because  it  is  not  followed  by 
personal  conversation  with  the  unsaved.  In  the  greatest  and  most  permanent 
revival  I  ever  labored,  in  which  over  300  persons  were  converted,  nearly  every 
one  of  these  hundreds  was  brought  to  Christ  by  direct  personal  effort.  When 
a  church  thus  has  personal  interest  in  converts  they  are  not  so  soon  let  go.  If 
you  rescue  a  man  from  wreck,  and  carry  him  to  the  hospital,  you  naturally 
have  a  lasting  interest  in  him.  It  is  none  the  less  so  in  winning  souls  to 
Christ. 

6.  It  will  lead  us  to  do  that  which  is  nearest  at  hand.  I  believe  in  a  call  to 
the  foreign  field,  but  somehow  can  not  help  questioning  the  call  of  a  man  or 
woman  to  that  field  who  has  not  heart  or  hand  for  the  work  at  home.  It  is 
doing  what  is  at  hand  that  gives  proof  to  a  call  to  a  wider  field.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  who  have  had  such  good 
success  in  India  andother  distant  lands,  had  great  success  in  our  own  land.  How 
can  we  expect  to  be  of  use  in  the  most  difficult  foreign  field  when  we  have 
been  of  no  use  in  the  comparatively  easy  field  at  home?  "  Return  to  thy  house," 
was  the  command  to  one  whom  Jesus  saved  in  Gadara, and  "declare  how  great 
things  God  hath  done  for  thee."  So  he  would  say  to  us  now.  Begin  with  the 
one  at  your  elbow.  There  your  responsibilities  are  first  and  greatest.  If  you 
can  win  souls  here  you  may  do  so  in  the  foreign  fields. 

7.  It  should  lead  us  to  the  use  of  the  best  and  most  effective  means,  and  the 
employment  of  all  our  powers,  in  winning  souls  to  Christ.  The  presentation  of 
the  vast  resources  and  means  in  soul-winning  is  beyond  this  address.  One 
thing  it  does  suggest.  Personal  responsibility  means  that  we  are  to  use  our- 
selves. Large-hearted  sympathy  and  love  are  essential.  A  cold-hearted,  dry 
soul  will  accomplish  but  little.  Love  for  the  message,  love  for  those  to  whom 
we  bear  it,  is  essential.  The  one  element  of  Jesus  which  surpasses  the  world 
and  all  that  went  before  him  and  all  who  have  come  after  him  is  his  love,  his 


Fifteenth  International  Cotivention.  247 

great  soul.  After  the  accumulating  light  of  eighteen  centuries  we  are  just 
beginning  to  read  that  love  in  some  measure  of  its  fulness.  That  is  the  Christ 
power  to-day.  His  spirit  of  justice,  tenderness,  and  love  is  our  weapon  of  all 
mightiness. 

8.  It  must  prompt  unwearying  patience.  Souls  are  not  always  won  in  a 
day.  "  Love  hopeth  all  things  "  in  soul-winning.  We  can  not  consecrate  our- 
selves entirely  to  soul-winning  unless  we  consecrate  ourselves  eternally  to  this 
sweet  task. 

9.  This  sense  of  personal  responsibility  must  prompt  ustoself-forgetfulness 
and  to  the  most  thorough  work  possible  to  our  present  state.  It  will  not  allow 
the  care  for  ourselves  or  for  our  own  ease  to  let  us  stop  short  of  our  best  in  the 
most  thorough  work.  For  a  soul  to  be  deluded  by  a  false  hope,  based  on  a 
wrong  conception  of  God  and  our  relation  to  him,  or  on  a  false  life  and  charac- 
ter, is  an  awful  thing.  Our  anxiety  to  do  much  work  may  lead  us  to  do  defect- 
ive and  superficial  work. 

A  few  months  ago,  in  the  home  of  a  Christian  gentleman  in  Beatrice,  Neb., 
while  at  dinner  I  mentioned  an  incident  in  connection  with  a  burning  of  a 
home  in  Dayton,  Wash.,  a  few  years  ago.  The  gentleman,  with  a  saddened 
voicesaid,"We  lost  our  all  in  ourdearold  home  near  Ottumwa,  lo.  in  afire  which 
burned  it  when  I  was  young."  "  What,"  said  I,  "did  you  lose  .''  "  He  replied, 
"We  lost  all  we  had  in  that  fire  that  night.  I  lost  three  brothers."  I  asked 
how  they  were  sleeping,  and  why  they  were  not  gotten  out,  since  he  was  saved. 
Said  he,  "  One  was  sleeping  in  the  bed  with  me,  and  two  were  in  another  room." 
How  I  wished  I  had  the  inquiry  back !  —  but  in  my  anxiety  I  asked,  "  Could  not 
you  have  awakened  your  brother.?"  I  shall  never  forget  the  unutterable  sad- 
ness of  that  face  as  he  said,  "  I  thought  I  had  him  awake  when  I  fought  my 
way  through  the  smoke  and  flame."  How  sad  for  you,  and  you,  and  for  me,  if 
in  our  appeal  to  those  sleeping  in  sin  we  only  partially  awaken  them  and  have 
to  say  at  the  last,  "  I  thought  1  had  him  awake;  "  "  I  thought  I  had  her  heart 
won  to  Jesus."  May  the  Holy  Spirit  fall  on  us  as  upon  those  in  the  beginning, 
and  use  us  in  winning  souls  to  Jesus,  who  now  places  these  interests  of  eternity 
in  our  feeble  hands  ! 

Mrs.  Nellie  Wilson  Shir-Cliffe  sang  "  My  Soul  Cries  Out."  An  open 
parliament  was  then  held,  presided  over  by  Judge  John  D.  Ellis,  of 
Newport,  Ky.,  when  practical  evangelistic  methods  were  discussed. 

The  beautiful  white  banner,  with  the  inscription  "  Christian  Endeavor 
Fellowship,  Presented  by  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor," 
was  then  presented  to  Chicago  for  having  the  largest  net  increase  of 
Christian  Endeavor  Societies  during  the  past  year. 

Philadelphia  has  held  this  banner  for  the  past  two  years.  It  was 
presented  by  Mr.  William  L.  Turner,  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Union,  and  accepted  for  the  Chicago  Union  by  Mr.  Frank  E.  Page,  an 
ex-president. 

Then  Rev.  F.  C.  Ottman,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  delivered  the  following 
address  on  "The  Sword  of  the  Spirit." 

Address  of  Rev.  Ford  C.  Ottman,  Newark,  N.  J. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  Apostle  Paul  conceives  of  the  Christian 
as  engaged  in  a  conflict.  This  conflict  is  not  with  flesh  and  blood,  but  with 
principalities,  and  powers,  and  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  and  wicked 
spirits  in  heavenly  places. 

In  cder  to  compete  successfully  with  these  forces,  Paul  urges  the  Christian 
to  he  flothed  with  the  armor  of  God,  which  has  been  provided  for  this  purpose. 
The  loins  are  to  be  girt  about  with  truth.  The  heart  is  to  be  covered  with  a 
breastplate  of  righteousness.    The  feet  are  to  be  shod  with  the  preparation  of 


248  Official  Report  of  the 

the  Gospel  of  Peace.  The  shield  of  faith  is  to  be  worn,  and  the  head  is  to  be 
covered  with  the  helmet  of  salvation. 

The  only  offensive  weapon  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  is  called  "  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God." 

We  have  seen  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  come  into  the  world  on  a  mission, 
both  to  the  unsaved  and  to  the  believer,  and  the  instrument  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  mission  is  here  given  us.     It  is  called  "The  Word  of  God." 

The  Spirit  of  God  is  a  person,  and  has  come  into  the  world  upon  a  distinct 
mission.  The  Word  of  God  is  the  expression  of  God's  mind  and  purpose  con- 
cerning us,  and  this  Word  is  the  instrument  which  is  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  accomplishment  of  his  mission.  The  Word  is  here  called  "the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,"  and  this  is  by  no  means  an  unusual  symbol  for  the  Word  of  God.  When 
the  Apostle  John  had  a  vision  of  the  Son  of  man  standing  in  the  midst  of  the 
seven  candlesticks,  he  saw  issue  from  his  mouth  a  sharp,  two-edged  sword. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  make  any  mistake  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  sym- 
bol, when  we  read  the  statement  of  Jesus  concerning  the  judgment :  "  He  that 
rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath  one  that  judgeth  him :  the  word 
that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."     (John  xii.  48.) 

We  read  of  the  sword  for  the  first  time  in  the  book  of  Genesis :  "  So  he 
drove  out  the  man  ;  and  he  placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  Cherubims, 
and  a  flaming  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of 
life."  (Gen.  iii.  24.)  Evidently  the  sword  here  is  also  a  symbol  of  the  Word 
of  God.  God  had  commanded  the  man  not  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,  under  the  penalty  of  death ;  and  when  man  violated  this  com- 
mand, God  placed  the  flaming  sword  before  the  Tree  of  Life,  lest  man  should 
eat  of  the  fruit  of  that  tree,  and  live  forever,  and  so  violate  the  integrity  of  his 
Word. 

In  addition  to  these  references,  showing  that  this  symbol  is  not  uncommon, 
we  have  the  familiar  passage  in  the  book  of  Hebrews :  "  For  the  word  of  God 
is  quick,  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to 
the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a 
discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."     (Heb.  iv.  12.) 

The  mission  of  the  Spirit  is  to  convict  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment,  and  the  weapon  by  which  this  conviction  is  wrought  is  "  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God."  We  need  to  remember  that 
this  Word  of  God  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  not  of  man. 

There  is  a  practical  side  to  this  subject  that  needs  to  be  considered  in  con- 
clusion. The  Apostle  Paul  declares  that  in  meeting  the  temptations  of  life  we 
need  to  be  armed  with  this  sword  of  the  Spirit;  by  no  other  weapon  will  it  be 
possible  to  achieve  the  victory.  Just  after  his  baptism  Jesus  was  driven  by  the 
Spirit  into  the  wilderness,  where  for  forty  days  he  was  tempted  of  Satan.  The 
final  assault  was  made  upon  him  after  the  forty  days  were  ended.  Jesus  was 
human,  and  he  was  hungry.  The  devil  said  to  him,  "  If  thou  be  the  Son  of 
God,  command  this  stone  that  it  be  made  bread."  This  was  a  real  temptation,  for 
Jesus  was  really  hungry:  but  he  won  the  victory  over  Satan  by  the  use  of  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit.  "  It  is  written,"  he  said,  "that  man  shall  not  live  by  bread 
alone,  but  by  every  word  of  God."  These  words  he  had  found  in  the  eighth 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy.  The  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God, 
served  him  in  the  hour  of  need. 

A  second  time  he  was  assaulted  by  Satan  —  taken  to  a  high  mountain  and 
shown  the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  "  The  devil  said  unto  him.  All  this  power  will 
I  give  thee,  and  the  glory  of  them  ;  if  thou  therefore  wilt  worship  me,  all  shall 
be  thine."  Jesus,  again  drawing  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  said  unto  him,  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan:  for  it  is  written.  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God, 
and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  These  words  he  found  in  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy;  and  in  this  second  assault  he  won  the  victory  by  means  of  "the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God." 

The  third  time  he  was  tempted,  when  the  devil  brought  him  to  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple  and  said  unto  him,  "  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself 
down  from  hence."    And  the  devil,  himself  drawing  the  sword,  but  destitute  of 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  249 

the  Spirit,  adds  still  further,  '•  For  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge 
over  thee,  to  keep  thee:  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any 
time  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone.  " 

Jesus,  answering,  said  unto  him,  "  It  is  said.  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord 
thy  God."  These  words  he  found  also  written  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Deute- 
ronomy. And  for  the  third  time  the  victory  was  won  by  means  of  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God.  On  a  single  page  of  the  Holy  Scripture 
Jesus  found  a  sufficient  foil  to  this  threefold  assault  of  Satan,  and  with  the 
wreath  of  victory  fresh  upon  his  brow,  went  down  the  mountain-side. 

This  is  a  practical  and  valuable  truth  for  us  to  learn  :  if  we  are  to  conquer 
in  life's  temptations,  we  must  be  armed  with  the  weapon  by  which  alone  the 
victory  can  be  won.  This  is  a  spiritual  conflict;  it  is  not  with  flesh  and  blood; 
it  is  against  the  principalities  and  powers  of  evil,  and  God  has  given  us  an 
armor  which  affords  protection.  He  has  also  been  pleased  to  place  in  our  hands 
this  aggressive  weapon,  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God." 

Tent  Endeavor. 

The  services  were  presided  over  by  Rev,  Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  made  a  most  genial  chairman.  He  made  a  playful 
allusion  to  the  hats  of  the  ladies  that  caused  a  great  many  feminine  fin- 
gers to  search  for  hat-pins  preparatory  to  filling  their  laps  with  the 
achieved  dreams  of  milliners.  The  praise  service  was  conducted  by 
Mr.  E.  O.  Excell.  The  devotional  exercises,  consisting  of  responsive 
Scripture  reading  and  an  eloquent  prayer,  were  conducted  by  Rev.  L. 
B.  Wilson,  of  Washington. 

Dr.  Hoyt,  in  explaining  the  absence  of  Mr.  Giles  Kellogg,  of  San 
Diego,  Cal.,  who  was  to  have  told  the  story  of  the  Floating  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor,  said  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  say  that  Mr. 
Kellogg  could  not  possibly  be  present,  as  it  was  perfectly  well  known 
that  an  Endeavorer  never  failed  to  be  present  when  he  had  a  duty  to 
perform,  if  he  possibly  could.  The  Floating  Society,  said  Dr.  Hoyt, 
showed  the  adjustability  of  Christian  Endeavor.  It  was  fitted  for 
churches  widely  differing  in  their  theology,  and  was  at  home  and  use- 
ful in  every  place  and  among  all  classes.  In  lieu  of  Mr.  Kellogg's  ad- 
dress, he  read  interesting  and  copious  extracts  from  the  report  of  Miss 
Antoinette  P.  Jones,  superintendent  of  the  Floating  Societies. 

The  audience  and  chorus  sang  "Throw  Out  the  Life-Line  "  with  fine 
effect,  and  then  was  heard  a  voice  from  the  other  side  of  the  world. 
Dr.  Hoyt  introduced  Miss  Margaret  W.  Leitch,  of  Jaffna,  Ceylon,  who 
made  an  address  on  the  pressing  needs  of  foreign  missions,  in  which 
work  she  has  been  engaged  for  seventeen  years. 

Address  of  Miss  Margaret  W.  Leitch,  Jaffna,  Ceylon. 

The  evangelization  of  the  world  should  be  the  great  work  of  the  Church  and 
not  merely  a  small  part  of  the  Church's  work.  If  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  should  be  the  great  work  of  the  Church,  then  it  ought  to  be  the  great 
work  of  every  member  in  the  Church,  and  it  ought  to  h&  your  great  work  and 
mine. 

Jesus  said,  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God."  First  does  not  mean  sec- 
ond. Are  the  Christians  of  America  making  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
their  first,  their  great,  work?  Are  they  consecrating  to  it  their  highest  talent, 
their  most  devoted  service?  Or  are  they  simply  making  it  a  byplay,  a  May 
holiday  ? 


250  Official  Report  of  the 

Nearly  all  of  the  great  missionary  boards  are  burdened  with  debt,  and  as  a 
result  reductions  have  been  ordered  in  many  mission  fields.  Let  us  try  to  make 
vivid  to  our  minds  what  these  reductions  mean  to  the  work.  As  a  result  of  the 
reductions  ordered  many  mission  village  schools  will  this  year  be  closed  and 
some  thousands  of  children  turned  out,  who  will  eagerly  be  welcomed  into 
the  heathen  opposition  schools.  In  these  schools  they  will  be  taught  from  heathen 
books  which  will  be  put  into  their  hands;  they  will  be  taught  to  ridicule 
and  make  a  mock  of  the  birth,  life,  and  death  on  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Young  men  from  the  higher  mission  schools  will  this  year  be  turned  out,  men 
who  are  being  trained  for  the  teachers,  colporteurs,  and  evangelists  of  the  future. 
The  printing  and  circulation  of  Christian  literature  will  this  year  be  curtailed. 
Many  trained  catechists  and  evangelists  will  this  year  be  dismissed,  and  that 
through  no  fault  of  theirs,  and  their  work  abandoned.  The  hearts  of  all  Chris- 
tian workers  and  of  all  members  of  the  Christian  community  will,  where  these 
reductions  are  enforced,  be  appalled,  and  the  hearts  of  the  opposers  of  Chris- 
tianity will  be  elated  and  jubilant.  Hinduism,  Mohammedanism,  and  other 
false  religions  will,  in  this  way,  receive  such  an  impetus  as  they  have  never  liad 
before.  The  faith  of  whole  communities  in  the  stability,  permanency,  and  final 
success  of  Christianity  and  of  Christian  mission  work  will  receive  a  staggering 
blow,  and  mission  work,  in  not  a  few  fields,  will  be  put  back  many  years.  The 
heathen  and  Mohammedans  will  say,  "Christianity  has  begun  to  die  out  in 
America.  The  Christians  of  America  are  reducing  their  work  this  year;  next 
year  they  will  reduce  still  more,  and  in  a  few  years  the  missionaries  and  their 
work  will  be  cleared  out  and  Christianity  will  have  proved  a  failure."  And 
thus  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  name  which  is  above  every  name, 
and  which  ought  to  be  dearer  to  us  than  life  itself,  will  be  ridiculed  and  dis- 
honored by  multitudes  of  people. 

The  Hindu  and  Mohammedan  preachers  will  proclaim  the  news  of  this 
reduction  far  and  wide.  Their  papers  will  be  full  of  it.  It  will  be  the  one 
great  subject  of  conversation  in  the  villages.  How  can  your  missionaries  face 
it?  How  can  they  explain  it.''  Will  they  say  that  the  Church  of  Christ  is  too 
poor  to  carry  on  the  work  which  it  has  begun  .?  Or  will  they  tell  the  truths  and 
say  that  professing  Christians  love  their  luxuries  more  than  they  love  their 
Lord? 

Will  these  reductions  mean  nothing  to  you?  They  will  mean  something  to 
the  heart  of  your  Christ.  They  will  mean  something  to  those,  your  most  noble 
missionaries,  who  are  cheerfully  giving  up  their  lives  to  this  work.  These 
reductions  will  break  the  hearts  of  some  of  them.  Your  missionaries  are  brave 
men  and  women  ;  they  can  look  death  in  the  face  without  quailing;  but  they  will 
not  be  able  to  look  these  reductions  in  the  face  without  quailing. 

Are  the  Christians  of  America  too  poor  to  carry  on,  unimpaired,  the  work 
which  their  fathers  and  mothers  began  with  so  much  prayer,  sacrifice,  and  con- 
secration? I  could  imagine  in  this  country  such  distress  and  wide-spread 
disaster  that,  looking  up  into  the  face  of  Christ,  the  Christians  of  America 
might  be  able  to  say,  "  Dear  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  we  can  not  carry  on  our 
foreign  mission  work."  But  does  any  such  state  of  affairs  exist?  This  country 
in  eight  months  exported  to  other  countries  merchandise  which  it  did  not 
require  at  home,  to  the  value  of  $600,000,000.  Is  this  a  poverty-stricken 
country  ?  Of  all  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  this  country  during  the 
past  seventeen  years,  since  I  went  as  a  missionary  to  Ceylon,  the  change  which 
strikes  me  with  the  greatest  astonishment  is  the  increase  in  luxuries.  Look  at 
the  way  in  which  the  majority  of  Christians  are  living.  Are  not  their  homes 
comfortable  and  even  luxurious?  Are  not  their  tables  loaded  with  dainties? 
Do  they  not  "  fare  sumptuously  every  day  "  ?  Are  they  not  "  clothed  in  purple 
and  fine  linen"?  Do  they  not  have  magnificent  churches  in  which  they  may 
worship,  with  one,  or  perhaps  two,  highly-paid  choirs? 

The  Christians  of  this  country  expended  last  year  only  about  55,000.000  for 
foreign  missions;  but  last  year  the  people  of  this  countiy  expended  $22,000,000 
for  chewing-gum ;  $50,000,000  for  bicycles  ;5400,ooo,ooo  for  amusements:  $600,000- 
000  for  jewelry. 


Fifteenth  Inter Jiational  Convention.  251 

Have  the  Christians  of  America  forgotten  that  there  are  in  the  world  to-day 
a  thousand  millions  of  heathen  and  Mohammedans,  half  of  whom  have  never 
heard  that  the  world's  Redeemer  has  come? 

The  great  work  of  world-wide  evangelization  will  never  be  accomplished 
until  Christians  deliberately  turn  away  from  the  pursuit  of  honor,  wealth,  and 
pleasure,  and  choose  instead  a  life  of  daily  self-denial,  in  order  that  they  may 
be  able  to  carry  out  the  great  commission,  entrusted  to  them  by  Jesus  Christ,  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  every  creature. 

This  vast  work  can  never  be  accomplished  in  any  easier  way.  Jesus  says,  "  If 
any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  daily 
and  follow  me." 

Not  only  must  there  be  more  self-sacritice  on  the  part  of  Christians;  there 
must  also  be  in  future  a  closer  and  more  personal  tie  between  the  home  and 
foreign  workers,  and  a  clearer  realization  oi  personal  responsibility . 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  while  nearly  all  of  the  great  denominational  boards 
are  in  debt,  the  women's  boards,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  are  not 
in  debt,  and  reductions  have  not  been  ordered  in  connection  with  their  work. 

What  is  the  secret  of  this?  The  women's  work  is  pledged  work.  The 
women's  boards  present  each  year  to  the  Women's  Missionary  Societies  of  the 
Church  a  statement  of  the  sums  needed  for  the  support  of  the  missionaries  on 
the  field,  and  their  work,  and  the  support  of  the  new  work  which  it  is  proposed  to 
inaugurate.  The  women's  auxiliaries  and  State  branches  become  responsible 
for  the  support  of  certain  definite  missionaries,  who  thus  become  their  personal 
representatives  in  the  foreign  field,  and  take  shares  in  some  definite  part  of  the 
work,  which  thus  becomes  their  own  work. 

These  Women's  Missionary  Societies  in  the  churches  have,  as  a  rule,  a 
monthly  missionary  meeting,  for  prayer  and  for  the  study  of  mission  fields. 
They  write  to  their  missionary  and  hear  from  her  in  return, —  some  ideal  socie- 
ties sending  a  weekly  letter,  and  some  ideal  missionaries  returning  a  weekly 
reply.  They  pray  for  their  missionary  every  day  and  at  their  monthly 
meetings. 

When  the  missionary  magazine  comes  to  hand  they  open  it  eagerly  to  see  if 
there  is  anything  from  their  missionary  or  about  her  field  or  work.  Their  inter- 
est and  their  gifts  grow  with  their  growing  love  for  their  missionary  and  their 
growing  knowledge  of  her  work.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  when  hard  times  come 
these  ladies  in  your  churches  have  cheerfully  sacrificed  comforts  and  luxuries 
rather  than  sacrifice  their  pledged  work  or  leave  their  missionary  and  her 
native  helpers  to  suffer? 

This  is  how  the  women  of  the  churches  conduct  their  work.  But  how  do 
the  men  of  the  churches  conduct  their  work?  Many  pastors  and  churches 
think  they  have  discharged  their  responsibility  for  missions  with  an  annual  con- 
tribution gathered  on  one  Sunday  and  sent  to  the  missionary  society.  If  the 
Sunday  is  hot,  or  cold,  or  wet,  so  much  the  worse  for  the  missionary  cause. 

In  the  majority  of  churches  there  is  no  monthly  concert  of  missions.  No 
responsibility  is  felt  for  the  support  of  any  one  missionary,  or  station,  or  any 
one  department  of  the  foreign  work.  No  one  missionary  is  remembered  by 
name  at  the  family  altar.  When  hard  times  come  the  first  collection  to  suffer 
is  the  missionary  collection. 

A  well-known  writer  has  said  :  — 

"  The  missionary  of  Christ  with  his  great  commission  is  treated  like  a  beggar, 
to  be  discharged  with  an  alms,  and  not  as  a  yokefellow  in  the  Gospel,  to  be 
supported  by  daily  co-operation.  As  a  consequence,  missionary  contributions 
do  not  grow  with  the  growth  of  the  churches,  and  missionary  interest  does  not 
increase  with  the  increase  of  communicants.  Missions  to  the  heathen  are  not 
made  the  first,  the  great,  work  of  the  churches.  The  churches  at  present  turn 
over  their  responsibility  to  boards,  boards  relegate  it  to  executive  committees, 
executive  committees  to  secretaries;  and  thus  the  work  of  extending  the  cause 
of  Christ,  which  belongs  essentially  to  every  disciple,  is  devolved  upon  some 
twenty  or  thirty  overburdened  men. 

"  This  state  of  things  must  come  to  an  end.     Let  every  church   become  a 


252  Official  Report  of  the 

foreign  missionary  society,  having  its  own  field  or  station  and  its  own  repre- 
sentatives, for  whose  support,  through  the  channels  of  its  denominational  board, 
it  is  directly  responsible. 

"  Let  the  local  churches  co-operate  in  the  work  of  missions,  without  funding 
their  responsibility  in  a  common  treasury.  Let  the  burden  of  support  of  mis- 
sionaries and  mission  stations  rest  directly  on  the  local  churches.  Let  the  trials 
and  discouragements  of  the  foreign  field  be  made  an  immediate  and  sole  con- 
cern of  these  churches,  and  what  a  new  and  wonderful  stimulus  to  prayer  it 
would  furnish  ! 

'"■Responsibility  is  the  mother  of  activity.''  Only  as  Christians  are  sensible 
of  their  obligations  will  they  be  moved  to  active  consecration. 

"  Let  a  church  have  its  own  missionaries,  who  will  starve  unless  it  supports 
them,  and  there  will  be  a  possibility  that  some  at  home  will  go  hungry  in  order 
to  feed  a  far-off  workman. 

"  The  most  pressing  demand  of  our  day  is  more  responsibility  for  missions  in 
order  to  greater  importunity  for  missions. 

"  Never  can  the  resources  of  the  Christian  Church  be  laid  under  contribu- 
tion until  in  some  way  the  missionary  enterprise  is  understood  to  be  the  prin- 
cipal business  of  the  Church,  a  business  which  can  not  by  any  possibility  be 
entrusted  to  any  ecclesiastical  commission-house. 

"'  Churches  to  the  front!'  must  be  our  watchword,  and  a  policy  of  missions 
which  will  multiply  a  thousand-fold  the  eyes  that  watch  for  their  success,  the 
hands  that  work  for  their  prosperity,  and  the  prayers  that  plead  for  their 
blessing." 

I  know  a  church  in  New  Jersey  which  is  not  stronger  nor  richer  than  thous- 
ands in  this  favored  land,  but  it  is  supporting,  through  its  own  denominational 
board,  two  home  and  three  foreign  missionaries  and  nineteen  native  helpers. 

It  raises  more  for  its  benevolences  than  it  does  for  home  expenses.  Once  a 
quarter,  on  review  Sundays,  the  whole  Sunday  school  is  resolved  into  a  mis- 
sionary society,  and  this  Sunday  school  provides  the  support  for  one  home  and 
one  foreign  missionary. 

The  women  of  the  church  hold  a  monthly  missionary  meeting  and  support 
a  home  and  foreign  missionary. 

A  few  years  ago  the  pastor  discovered  that  the  men  and  boys  of  the  church 
were  not  having  a  proportionate  share  in  the  missionary  work.  In  order  to 
inform  them  and  enlist  their  co-operation,  the  Friday  prayer  meeting,  once  a 
month,  was  converted  into  a  monthly  concert  of  missions.  As  a  result  the 
men  and  boys  of  the  church  are  now  supporting  not  merely  their  own  mission- 
ary, but  their  own  mission  station  in  China,  providing  for  the  support  of  their 
missionary  and  nineteen  native  helpers. 

As  a  further  result  of  this  blessed  missionary  work  this  church  is  enjoying 
an  uninterrupted  revival,  and  fifty  members  were  added  last  year  to  this  church 
home.  "Give  and  it  shall  be  given  you."  "There  is  that  giveth  but  yet 
increaseth." 

An  address  on  "  Christian  Endeavor  an  Evangelistic  Force  "  was  de- 
livered by  Bishop  Arnett,  of  Wilberforce,  O.  Bishop  Arnett,  one 
of  the  trustees  of  the  United  Society,  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Hoyt  as 
one  who  externally  is  a  colored  man,  but  who  has  as  white  a  soul  as 
it  is  possible  to  find.  "Thank  God,"  said  Dr.  Hoyt,  "Christianity 
knows  no  color  line." 

Address  of  Bishop  B.  W.  Arnett,   D.D.,  of  Wilberforce,  O. 

We  have  met  here  as  Christian  citizens,  members  of  the  body  politic,  having 
the  interest  of  our  country  and  fellow  men  at  heart.  We  have  not  come  to 
usurp  the  prerogatives  and  authorities  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
nor  to  supersede  the  National  Congress,  nor  exercise  the  functions  of  the  law- 
making power.  We  are  not  after  the  gowns  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  from 
their  decision  there  is  no  appeal.     I  admit  that  a  few  months  ago,  when  the 


FifteentJi  International  Convention.  253 

Supreme  Court  gave  its  anti-Christian,  its  anti-American,  anti-human  decision, 
affirming  the  heresy  that  the  States  had  the  right  to  discriminate  against  a 
human  being  because  his  God  made  him  black  instead  of  white,  I  felt  like  call- 
ing a  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  to  elect  Christian  Endeavor  judges  who 
would  recognize  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  for  I 
believe  that  no  man  ought  to  wear  those  gowns  except  those  who  believe  in 
the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  Golden 
Rule.  We  have  come  here  to  marshal  the  moral  and  religious  forces  under  one 
banner,  and  that  is  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  and  to  contend  against  a  common 
foe.  But  as  I  look  over  this  vast  audience,  the  question  occurs:  What  has 
brought  these  people  here  ?  There  can  be  but  one  answer,  and  that  is.  Love  to 
God  and  love  to  man.  It  was  the  love  of  Christ  that  constrained  us  to  leave 
our  homes  and  business  and  make  this  pilgrimage  to  the  nation's  capital.  Our 
love  for  God  and  man  has  enabled  us  to  do  our  duty  to  our  fellow  men,  and 
hath  given  us  power  to  break  down  the  denominational  walls  and  join  in  a 
united  effort  to  put  down  the  foe  to  humanity.  We  must  declare  war  against 
ignorance  and  sin  in  high  and  low  places,  unfurl  the  banner  of  the  Cross,  draw 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  march  our  united  forces  against  the  saloon,  the 
greatest  foe  of  our  home  and  native  land.  Ignorance  and  the  saloon  are  the 
common  enemies  of  all  men,  all  families,  all  races,  and  all  nations.  Therefore 
all  Christians,  all  denominations,  and  all  religions  should  form  an  alliance 
offensive  and  defensive  against  them.  We  are  to  find  a  common  ground 
to  stand  on.  We  can  all  meet  at  the  Cross  of  the  Crucified  One. 
We  can  all  obey  the  command  of  the  carpenter's  Son;  we  can  all  serve 
the  Son  of  Mary;  and  by  being  supremely  loyal  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God,  we  can  conquer  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  The 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  an  educational  force.  It  is  the  fond  hope  of  the 
Society  to  see  the  little  red  schoolhouse  multiplied  until  one  shall  stand  at 
every  crossroad  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  on  every  teacher's  desk 
the  Bible,  and  from  every  gable  shall  float  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  The  educa- 
tional forces  of  our  country  ought  to  be  considered  and  brought  under  the  con- 
trolling influences  of  Christianity ;  and  one  of  the  missions  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  shall  be  to  make  Christianity  popular  in  our  homes,  social 
circles,  and  institutions  of  learning.  Two  of  the  largest  denominations  of  the 
negro  race  are  organizing  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  among  the  young 
people ;  and  soon  the  pledge,  prayer,  and  song  of  the  Christian  Endeavorer 
will  be  familiar  to  our  sons  and  daughters  from  Huron's  lordly  flood  to  the 
Everglades  of  Florida.  The  Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  an  evangelistic 
army  of  men,  women,  and  children,  all  endeavoring  to  work  out  their  own  soul's 
salvation.  Each  individual  member  is  an  evangelist,  one  who  believes  the 
history,  doctrines,  precepts,  actions,  life,  and  death  of  our  blessed  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ;  authorized  preachers,  but  without  congregations,  commissioned 
to  instruct  in  the  Gospel,  —  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor,  to  convert  the 
unconverted  to  the  belief  of  the  Gospel,  and  bring  sons  and  daughters  from 
afar.  Our  organization  is  endeavoring  to  hasten  the  reign  of  righteousness 
throughout  the  world  by  practising  denominational  reciprocity,  by  recognizing 
the  co-relations  of  the  religious  forces,  and  by  inaugurating  the  era  of  peace  and 
good-will  between  men  ;  and  we  resolve,  in  the  name  of  the  heroic  dead  that  sleep 
in  yonder  cemetery,  that  in  the  future  we  will  do  all  that  lies  in  our  power  to  have 
in  fact  what  we  have  in  theory, —  a  government  of  all  the  people,  and  by  all  the 
people,  and  for  all  the  people. 

"  The  Call  to  Missionary  Service"  was  the  topic  of  the  last  speaker. 
Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  D.D.,  of  New  York  City,  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Address  of  Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

I  am  asked  to  close  the  session  of  this  inspiring  meeting  to-day  by  emphasiz- 
ing the  thought  that  the  service  for  which  we  are  saved,  while  it  begins  with 


254  Official  Report  of  the 

the  man  on  our  right  hand,  belts  the  globe  to  the  man  on  our  left  hand.  At 
our  nation's  capital,  and  on  ground  which  teems  with  patriotic  associations, 
we  can  not  forget  that  this  is  our  country's  providential  task.  We  want  to  win 
this  land  for  Christ.  God  has  raised  up  America  for  the  purpose.  Its  unique 
history,  its  extraordinary  opportunity,  its  unparalleled  resources,  combine  to 
make  that  purpose  clear.  God  would  make  us  a  new  Israel,  through  whom 
spiritual  blessing  shall  come  to  the  right.  In  the  words  of  another,  God  con- 
siders that  we  should  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  coming  out  squarely 
upon  the  track  of  God's  own  word  and  providence.. 

As  much  as  nome  missions  may  mean  to  us  in  our  national  capacity,  we  have 
not  got  to  the  bottom  of  home  missions  until  we  have  grown  to  feel  that  to  the 
all-seeing  eye  of  God  it  is  all  home,  centred  on  one  cross  as  its  one  universal 
axis.  How  plainly  our  national  history  indicates  this  thouglit  of  God!  Think 
what  purposes  had  this  fertile  continent  alone,  undiscovered  for  thousands  of 
years.  God  has  intended  us  to  be  a  missionary  nation.  When  we  let  our 
visions  span  the  oceans  we  understand  why  God  has  charged  us  with  such  a 
providential  mission.  We  see  millions  suffering  for  the  want  of  that  which 
Christianity  has  brought  to  us.  I  might  speak  of  the  blessings  of  Christian 
civilization,  of  schools  and  books,  of  justice  and  social  order,  of  the  asylums 
for  the  blind  and  the  hospitals  for  the  sick,  of  all  the  comforts  and  con- 
veniences of  the  Church,  unknown  beyond  the  pale  of  the  true  religion.  Were 
the  benefits  of  Christianity  confined  to  this  life,  foreign  missions  would  yet 
have  a  duty.  So  numerous  and  mighty  are  the  humanitarian  influences  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ !  God's  grace  is  not  to  find  the  visible  missions.  We 
have  no  authority  to  go  beyond  his  Word,  and  that  Word,  from  Genesis  to 
Revelations,  in  prose  and  poetry,  in  prophetic  warning,  and  apostolic  preach- 
ing. Aye,  in  the  words  of  the  Lord,  Jesus  himself  declared  that  man  is  sinful, 
and  that  the  consequences  of  his  sin  are  something  terrific,  but  God  has  sup- 
plied us  a  way  of  salvation,  and  we  know  it,  and  in  knowing  it  we  are  debtor 
to  those  who  know  it  not,  and  are  bound  by  the  most  solemn  obligations  of 
philanthropy  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  all  nations,  as  we  can  no  longer  come  to 
these  people  in  the  spirit  of  condescension.  Recent  events  have  helped  us  to 
a  truer  understanding  of  the  worth  and  dignity  of  man  as  man;  to  an  under- 
standing that  back  of  almond  eyes  and  under  the  olive  skin  are  all  the  faculties 
and  possibilities  of  a  man.  We  have  learned  to  respect  and  admire  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  Japanese  and  the  industry  of  the  Chinese.  And  if  we  are  to  speak 
of  the  negro  race,  I  would  not  only  speak  of  Frederick  Douglass  and  of  him 
who  has  spoken  to-night,  but  I  would  think  of  those  blacks  who  tenderly  pre- 
pared the  body  of  Livingstone,  laying  his  heart  in  Africa's  bosom,  and  who 
then  carried  that  body  on  their  shoulders  through  forests  and  swamps,  over 
mountains  and  plains,  amid  the  warring  of  elemejits,  with  persistence  inflexible 
and  courage  superb.  These  are  brother  men,  men  like  ourselves  in  the  image 
of  God,  for  whom,  as  well  as  for  you  and  me,  Christ  died.  Ruskin  reminds  us 
that  mud  is  composed  of  clay,  sand,  soot,  and  water;  that  clay  may  be  molded 
into  the  noblest  work  of  the  sculptors;  that  the  sand  may  develop  into  the  fair- 
est opal;  that  the  SQotmay  be  crystallized  into  the  diamond;  and  that  the  water 
may  develop  into  a  star  of  snow.  So  with  the  vilest  men;  they  may  be  fitted 
by  the  Son  of  God  to  live  forever  with  God  and  to  stand  upon  the  feet  of 
Christian  humanity.  If  anybody  tells  you  that  the  heathen  can  be  converted 
you  can  say  to  him,  "  My  dear  sir,  the  heathen  are  being  converted." 
Since  this  Convention  met  one  year  ago  in  the  city  of  Boston,  how  many 
souls  do  you  think  have  been  brought  out  of  the  darkness  of  heathenism 
into  the  light  and  liberty  through  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  foreign 
field?  One  hundred  thousand.  I  am  told  that  there  are  about  forty  thous- 
and Christian  Endeavorers  in  the  city  of  Washington  to-day.  What  a 
great  multitude  !  And  yet  if  you  could  get  into  this  great  Convention  all 
those  who  have  been  converted  from  heathenism  this  last  year,  then  the  mag- 
nificent hospitality  of  the  city  of  Washington  would  be  taxed,  for  that  Conven- 
tion would  be  two  and  one-half  times  as  great  as  the  Convention  which  now 
meets  here.     I  fancy  sometimes  I  see  them  coming,  300  a  day,  2,000  a  week, 


FiftecntJi  International  Convention.  255 

8,500  a  month,  100,000  a  year,  a  mighty  but  motley  host,  redeemed  out  of  every 
nation  under  heaven,  red,  black,  and  yellow,  speaking  various  languages. 

I  want  to  speak  a  word  of  sympathetic  admiration  for  the  missionaries  who 
are  in  the  forefront  in  this  battle.  In  addition  to  the  heat,  dust,  and  fevers,  fleas, 
bugs,  snakes,  and  all  the  discomforts  of  a  typical  Oriental  country,  the  mission- 
aries are  frequently  called  upon  to  endure  great  physical  danger.  This  last 
year  many  missionaries  have  been  brought  into  contact  with  the  scourge  of 
cholera;  others  have  lived  for  months  surrounded  by  smallpox;  others  have 
been  endangered  by  mob  violence.  In  the  Turkish  Empire  our  property  has 
been  destroyed,  their  work  interfered  with,  their  freedom  restricted,  and  their 
very  lives  menaced.  How  many  of  you  know  that  on  Wednesday,  March  25, 
the  Sultan  of  Turkey  promulgated  a  decree  ordering  every  American  missionary 
to  leave  the  empire .-'  And  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  providential  discovery  of  that 
decree  by  the  British  Ambassador,  and  his  prompt  peremptory  interference, 
great  calamity  would  have  resulted.  In  the  meantime  a  strange  thing  is  happen- 
ing at  home.  Not  only  many  newspapers,  but  some  men  in  high  official  posi- 
tions, one  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  declared  that  if  our  people 
leave  their  country  to  go  to  a  far  distant  country,  semi-civilized,  bitterly 
opposed  to  their  movement,  we  can  not  follow  them  there  to  protect  them  ;  they 
ought  to  come  home.  And  for  once  I  was  ashamed  of  my  country.  Is  the 
missionary's  business  less  legitimate  than  the  trader's.?  Is  a  man  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  his  country  when  he  goes  to  an  Oriental  country,  and  does  he  for- 
feit that  protection  when  he  goes  there  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  protection  and 
peace.?  In  that  same  Senate-chamber,  Senator  Frye  reminded  the  people  that 
about  twenty  years  ago  England  sent  an  army  of  15,000  men  down  the  coast, 
across  700  miles  of  barren  sand,  to  batter  down  iron  gates  and  stone  walls,  and 
reach  down  into  an  Abyssinian  dungeon,  and  to  help  out  of  it  one  British 
subject,  who  had  been  unlawfully  imprisoned.  It  cost  England  ^25,000,000  to 
do  it,  but  it  made  a  highway  over  this  planet  for  every  common  son  of  Briton; 
and  the  words,  "  I  am  an  English  citizen"  are  more  potent  than  the  sceptre  of 
a  king.  And  it  was  because  of  that  reputation,  that  when  Sir  Philip  Currie, 
the  British  Ambassador  at  Constantinople,  drove  up  to  the  door  of  the  Turkish 
minister  of  foreign  affairs,  and  demanded  the  cancellation  of  that  order  expel- 
ling American  missionaries  within  twenty-four  hours,  the  Turk  cringed  and 
obeyed. 

Mr.  Chairman,  shall  America  allow  herself  to  be  ridiculed  by  the  Turks.? 
Shall  we  vociferously  curse  England  one  day,  and  the  next  day  depend  upon 
her  representatives  to  help  us  out  when  our  missionaries  are  in  danger.?  This 
is  not  a  question  of  jingoism,  whatever  that  may  be.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
abusing  the  Sultan;  it  is  not  even  a  question  of  missions  or  religion ;  it  is  a 
question  of  treaty,  a  question  of  national  honor,  a  question  of  self-respect.  We 
do  not  ask  any  special  privileges  for  the  missionary.  We  simply  ask  that  he  be 
counted  a  citizen  and  a  man,  and  that  he  be  protected  in  those  rights  granted 
by  treaty  to  the  meanest  American,  and  that  it  be  counted  a  shameful  thing  to 
subject  him  to  the  criticism  of  a  pack  of  men  who  put  expediency  before  prin- 
ciple, and  up  whose  backs  run  cotton  strings  instead  of  spinal  columns.  But 
of  one  thing  you  can  be  sure.  The  missionary  will  not  run.  Several  months 
ago,  when  we  foresaw  the  trouble,  I  wrote  to  our  missionaries  in  Turkey,  assur- 
ing them  that  we  would  stand  by  them,  and  giving  them  freedom  of  action,  and 
*saying  that  they  had  full  authority  to  leave  their  posts,  if  they  deemed  it  their 
duty  to  do  so;  and  not  one  man  or  woman  of  them  swerved.  Why.?  For  the 
same  reason  that  the  Spartans  did  not  run  away  at  Thermopylae;  that  your 
revolutionary  sires  did  not  run  away  at  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill;  that  the 
railroad  engineer  did  not  jump,  when  he  knew  that  he  was  facing  death ;  that 
the  mother  did  not  forsake  her  boy,  when  she  saw  him  stricken  with  diphtheria. 
The  missionary  is  a  soldier.  His  station  is  a  post  of  duty,  and  that  missionary 
stands  there.  In  battle,  it  is  not  so  hard  to  be  brave.  There  is  there  the  inspira- 
tion of  bugle  and  drum,  and  the  sense  of  comradeship,  the  relief  of  action.  But 
the  missionary  has  none  of  these  outward  supports.  He  stands  purely  alone, 
far  from  succor,  and  entirely  unarmed,  forbidden  to  fight,  prepared  to  look 


256  Official  Report  of  the 

death  squarely  in  the  face.  To  endure  such  circumstances  requires  heroism 
surpassing  that  of  any  battle-field.  Yet  there  they  stand  to-day  in  the  great 
Turkish  Empire,  like  that  man  of  whom  Victor  Hugo  wrote  in  "The  Toilers  of 
the  Sea,"  on  the  point  of  solitude  and  danger,  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  ele- 
ments, the  bitterest  glare  of  the  sun,  the  fiercest  side  of  the  ocean,  and  yet 
standing  with  patience  indomitable,  with  courage  magnificent,  battling  for  the 
truth  and  for  God.  O  young  men  and  young  women,  will  you  not  go  back  to 
your  churches,  sending  to  these  missionaries  the  inspiration  of  your  sympathy 
and  prayers  and  greetings,  and  divide  with  them  a  part  of  the  sentiment  for  the 
work  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  laid  upon  the  Church,  and  the  men  and  women 
whom  the  Holy  Ghost  has  sent  forth  to  do  it .''  So  the  march  of  events  gives  new 
emphasis  to  the  glory  of  God.  Criticisms  there  are,  but  I  am  not  here  to-night 
to  reply  to  them.  With  so  much  warrant  for  missionary  service,  I  am  not  stand- 
ing here  on  the  defensive.  I  am  not  standing  here  to  make  apologies;  I  refuse 
to  cheapen  this  great  cause  by  begging  for  money. 

General  Sherman  said  that  the  commanders  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
failed  because  they  failed  to  get  into  action  more  than  three-fourths  of 
their  army,  and  that  the  commanders  of  the  western  armies  succeeded  because 
they  got  into  action  nine-tenths,  and  in  some  instances  all  of  their  soldiers. 
How  can  the  Church  of  God  expect  to  conquer  the  world  when  only  one-fourth, 
to  say  nothing  of  three-fourths,  is  thoroughly  alive  to  the  great  work  of  foreign 
missions.''  At  a  critical  moment  in  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  when  victory  and 
defeat  rested  in  the  balance,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  sent  out  the  command, 
"  Advance  all  along  the  line,"  and  because  that  order  was  promptly  obeyed 
victory  was  won.  And  we  want  you  to  go  back  to  your  churches,  and  put  forth 
all  of  your  best  efforts,  until  the  Church  of  the  living  God  shall  advance  as  one 
man  into  this  great  conflict.  This  is  the  duty  of  the  hour,  and  it  is  a  sublime 
opportunity.  The  call  is  clarion ;  it  is  God's  orders  ;  it  is  Jesus  Christ  who 
leads ;  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost  who  prompts. 

Dr.  Hoyt  promised  to  show  the  assemblage  a  truly  great  and  good 
man,  one  referred  to  by  Bishop  Arnett  as  a  true  friend  of  the  colored 
race,  and  he  introduced  Justice  Harlan,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  who 
bowed  his  acknowledgment  of  the  great  applause  which  greeted  him, 
but  declined  to  make  a  speech. 

Tent  Washington. 

Tent  Washington  was  crowded  at  an  early  hour.  The  services  were 
presided  over  by  President  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D.,  the  musical  director 
of  the  evening  being  Mr.  P.  S.  Foster.  The  devotional  exercises  were 
conducted  by  Rev.  E.  B.  Bagby.  Dr.  Clark  introduced  Mr.  Amos  R. 
Wells,  of  Boston,  who  has  made  so  wide  a  reputation  as  managing 
editor  of  The  Golden  Rule.  The  popularity  of  the  writer  was  evidenced 
by  the  warm  reception  he  was  given.  His  topic  was  "  The  Senior  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor." 

Address  of  Prof.  Amos  R.  Wells,  Boston,  Mass. 

Ten  years  ago  there  were  in  the  world  50,000  Christian  Endeavorers.  Where 
have  they  gone  ?  Eight  years  ago  the  number  had  risen  to  300,000.  What 
has  become  of  these  myriads?  Seven  years  ago  there  were  nearly  half  a  mil- 
lion Christian  Endeavorers.    Where  are  those  half-million  young  people  now.'' 

Well,  some  of  them  are  married.  I  hope  all  of  them  are,  and  married  to 
Christian  Endeavorers,  too.  Some  of  them  are  in  active  business,  —  I  hope  all 
of  them  are, —  and  about  their  Father's  business,  too.  Most  of  them  — nay,  all 
of  them,  I  verily  believe  —  are  in  the  Church,  that  dear  Church  to  which,  with 


FiftcentJi  International  Convention.  257 

Christ,  they  promised  their  faithful  allegiance  ten,  eight,  seven  years  ago.  But 
as  regards  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  where  are  they  —  these  half-million 
young  people  that  joined  our  ranks  a  week  of  years  ago  ? 

1  am  really  afraid  that  thousands  and  thousands  of  them  are  in  the  Young 
People's  Society  still.  Why  shouldn't  they  be  there?  Because  there  isn't 
room  for  them.  Because  during  these  seven  years  the  Junior  hosts  have  gath- 
ered and  are  pouring  their  fresh  young  cohorts  into  the  older  army.  Because 
during  these  seven  years  2,000,000  young  people  have  flocked  to  our  standard. 
Because  societies  that  once  could  rattle  around  in  their  meeting-rooms  like  the 
filbert  in  its  shell  are  now  holding  overflow  meetings  or  splitting  up  into  sec- 
tions, and  hours  that  once  had  room  for  a  yard  of  talk  from  each  member  now 
have  n't  room  for  an  inch.  Why  should  n't  they  be  there  1  Because  they  are 
in  the  way.  Because  the  younger  Endeavorers  look  to  them  too  much. 
Because  they  are  taking  work  right  out  of  the  younger  Endeavorers'  hands  — 
work  those  hands  need  to  do  in  order  to  grow  strong.  Why  should  n't  they 
be  there  ?  Because  they  need  to  be  somewhere  else.  Because  they  have 
become  too  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  Young  People's  Society,  and  it  has 
become  too  easy  for  them.  Because  they  need  new  work,  and  harder  work,  and 
a  different  kind  of  work.  Why  should  n't  they  be  there  ?  Because  they  are 
needed  somewhere  else.  Because  the  Church  needs  their  full  time  and  undi- 
vided energies.  Because  when  they  enlisted  under  the  banner,  "  For  Christ 
and  the  Church,"  it  was  understood  that  they  were  in  training  for  the  Church, 
and  a  good  training-school  is  known  by  its  good  graduates.  Because  gradua- 
tion is  one  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  principles  —  graduation  from  the  Junior 
into  the  Young  People's  Society,  and  graduation  from  the  Young  People's 
Society  into  —  into  what  ? 

Not  into  the  Church,  for  they  are  in  that  already.  Shall  it  be  graduation 
into  less  strict  fulfilment  of  duty  ?  No  !  That  would  be  to  graduate  backwards, 
like  a  crab.  Shall  it  be  graduation  away  from  the  idea  of  covenants?  No! 
Graduation  from  daily  Bible-reading  and  daily  prayer?  No,  no!  Graduation 
from  systematic  work  for  Christ  and  the  Church?  No!  Graduation  from 
regular  testimony  in  a  prayer  meeting?  No!  Graduation  into  what,  then? 
Why,  into  what  shall  it  be  but  a  Senior  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  ! 

The  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  is  helpful  to  a  young  man  of  twenty-five. 
Will  it  not  be  equally  helpful  to  the  same  young  man  ten  years  later?  System- 
atic committee  work  gives  business-like  efficiency  to  your  Christian  service  now. 
Will  it  not  do  the  same  a  decade  hence?  Your  consecration  is  fanned  to  a 
fresher  flame  by  the  breath  of  each  consecration  meeting.  Will  there  ever  come 
a  time  on  earth  when  your  consecration  will  not  need  periodical  revivals? 

Does  any  one  object  that  our  young  men  and  women,  leaving  the  Young 
People's  Society,  should,  without  any  Senior  Society  or  pledge,  go  right  on  and 
do  for  the  older  church  just  what  they  have  been  trained  to  do  in  their  Endeavor 
Society?  The  objector  has  forgotten  the  stimulus  that  comes  from  organiza- 
tion, and  the  energizing  force  of  definite  obligations.  One  at  a  time  our  En- 
deavorers drop  out  of  the  Young  People's  Society,  out  of  its  strenuous  atmos- 
phere of  strict  requirement  and  the  close  shoulder-to-shoulder  of  its  working 
fellowship.  They  do  go  into  the  full  activities  of  the  older  church.  They  do 
take  part  in  its  prayer  meetings  and  do  their  full  share,  usually  more  than  their 
full  share,  of  its  work.  But  any  one  that  knows  human  nature  will  know  how 
much  more  they  could  do  if,  on  graduation  from  the  Young  People's  Society, 
they  were  received  into  another  eager,  compact  body  of  Endeavorers,  trained 
like  themselves,  using  the  same  methods,  seeking  the  same  goals. 

But  does  any  one  object  that  this  Senior  Society  would  mean  another  meet- 
ing? It  would  not.  The  prayer  meeting  of  the  Senior  Society  is  the  regular 
church  prayer  meeting.  To  this  it  transfers  its  full  Christian  Endeavorpledge. 
And  how  much  such  a  phalanx  of  trained  workers  might  do  for  our  church 
prayer  meetings  !  With  Christian  Endeavor  zeal,  they  would  fly  to  the  weak- 
est point.  Are  prayers  lacking?  They  would  pour  them  in, —  ten,  fifteen, 
twenty,  at  a  time.  Does  the  singing  drag  ?  They  would  focus  their  fresh  young 
voices  into  clarion  leadership.     Are  the  speeches  too  long?     The  Senior  En- 


258  Official  Report  of  the 

deavorers  would  drive  in  the  hot  shot  of  testimony  with  cannon-ball  brevity.  Do 
awful  pauses  yawn  through  the  meeting  ?  The  Seniors  would  systematically 
fill  them.  The  Senior  Society  meeting  is  the  church  prayer  meeting.  Do  not 
forget  that. 

And  does  any  one  further  object  that  this  will  mean  more  church  machinery.? 
It  will  not.  If  your  pastor  will  serve  as  president,  install  him  in  that  office  for 
life.  You  will  have  no  records,  and  will  need  no  secretary.  You  will  have  no 
money,  and  will  need  no  treasurer.  The  simplest  of  constitutions  —  send  to  the 
United  Society  for  a  suggestion  of  one  —  and  the  pledge  —  that  is  all  you  need. 
No  business  meetings.''  Once  a  month,  after  the  church  prayer  meeting,  the 
Senior  Endeavorers  should  gather  under  the  pastor's  leadership  and  spend  a 
few  minutes  in  prayerful  search  for  new  work.  "  How  can  we  better  the  church 
prayer  meeting.? "  they  will  ask  at  these  monthly  meetings.  "How  does  the 
Young  People's  Society  need  our  help?"  "  What  needed  work,  unattempted 
by  others,  can  we  take  up }  "  What  pastor  would  not  rejoice  in  such  a  meeting 
of  trained  workers  1  Save  this  brief  monthly  conference,  there  is  nothing  visible 
about  the  Senior  Society.  Its  mission  work  is  the  Church's,  its  social  work  the 
Church's,  its  temperance  work  the  Church's,  its  finances  the  Church's.  The 
Senior  Society  would  not  Endeavorize  the  Church  —  though  that  wouldn't  be 
such  a  terrible  thing  —  but  would  simply  churchify  Christian  Endeavor. 

Do  you  want  to  make  the  experiment,  pastors?  because  \iyoii  do  not  want 
it,  no  one  wants  it  made  ;  but  if  you  do  want  to  experiment,  it  is  very  easy. 
Begin  with  a  few.  Don't  remove  all  the  older  workers  from  the  Young  People's 
Society  at  once.  Let  them  withdraw  gradually,  in  the  meantime  working  to 
make  themselves  unnecessary,  training  their  successors  as  Elijah  trained 
Ehsha.  The  best  way  to  start  is  for  these  older  Endeavorers  to  belong,  for  a 
time,  to  both  Young  People's  and  Senior  Societies,  gradually  weaning  them- 
selves from  the  younger  organization.  Begin  with  a  few.  Single  out  the  young 
men  with  mustaches,  and  the  young  women  with  diamond  rings  on  the  third 
finger  of  the  left  hand.  Add  a  choice  selection  from  the  honorary  members 
and  all  the  past  members  of  the  Society  you  can  lay  your  hands  on,  and  you 
have  the  nucleus  of  a  Senior  Society. 

Try  it,  Endeavorers,  try  it !  Your  pastors  co-operating,  try  it !  To  strengthen 
the  Young  People's  Societies,  to  conserve  for  the  Church  their  full  vigor  and 
enthusiasm,  try  it!  In  many  parts  of  Australia  and  in  a  few  American  churches 
the  experiment  has  been  made,  and  in  not  a  single  case  has  it  failed  of  glorious 
success.  Since  the  Junior  movement,  no  phase  of  Christian  Endeavor  has 
compared  in  importance  with  this.  Do  not  wait  for  others  to  move,  but  be  a 
pioneer  yourself!  Connecticut,  that  State  of  bright  ideas,  has  a  Veterans' 
Christian  Endeavor  Association,  made  up  of  its  old  State  officers.  Everywhere, 
everywhere,  Christian  Endeavor  has  trained  its  veterans.  Now  let  them  band 
together,  and  forward,  march  !  for  new  victories.  I  hear  the  tramp,  tramp, 
tramp,  of  the  regulars.  They  are  cadets  no  longer.  Trained,  they  have 
found  out  that  they  were  trained  for  something.  Their  manual  of  arms  is  not 
for  the  parade-ground,  but  the  battle-field.  Forward,  Senior  Endeavor,  for 
Christ  and  the  Church  ! 

President  Clark  then  introduced  Rev.  J.  L.  Withrow,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly.  His  topic  was 
*'  Meetness  for  the  Master's  Use." 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  L.  Withrow,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Chicago,  III. 

Yesterday,  at  the  Presbyterian  Rally,  I  said  I  was  pastor  of  six  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies.  As  soon  as  the  service  was  over,  one  of  my  young  people 
came  to  me  with  both  hands  up  and  said,  "  Why  did  n't  you  say  eight  societies 
instead  of  six  ?     We  have  eight  societies  in  our  church." 

Now  I  really  begin  to  think,  since  I  heard  that  old  gentleman  a  minute  ago, 
that  we  will  have  to  have  a  Senior  Endeavor,  a  ninth  society.  I  wondered  what 
on  earth  he  was  going  to  make  out  of  "  Senior  Endeavor  Society."     Now  I  see 


Fiftee7itJi  International  Convention.  259 

it  and  I  approve  of  it.  Whether  I  can  get  all  my  friends  to  see  and  approve 
of  it  remains  to  be  seen;  but  I  am  to  have  a  subject  with  you  to-night,  and 
that  is  •'  Aleetness  for  the  Master's  Use  ;  "  under  the  general  topic  of  the  day, 
"  Saved  to  Serve,"  a  most  suggestive  topic. 

What  fits  us  for  the  Master's  service  —  meetness  for  the  Master's  use? 
Well,  a  pleasant  recollection  comes  to  my  mind  of  a  colored  boy.  It  came  to 
my  mind  as  these  boys  walked  up  here  and  sang  to  you;  a  colored  boy  in  my 
college  days.  He  was  the  aid  or  the  assistant  to  the  professor  of  physics  ;  a 
very  illustrious  and  world-wide  known  man  was  the  professor.  Now  Buck,  as  we 
called  him,  thought  he  was  nearly  as  important  as  the  professor.  All  he  had 
to  do  was  simply  to  care  for  the  apparatus  in  the  laboratory,  to  prepare  for  ex- 
periments, and  then  to  prepare  such  instruments  as  might  be  used  by  the 
distinguished  professor.  But,  oh,  how  important  that  young  man  felt  himself 
to  be !  His  learning  was  scant  ;  all  he  had  in  this  world  was  little,  except 
his  consciousness  that  he  was  the  servant  of  the  great  professor.  He  looked 
down  upon  us  boys  sitting  in  the  forms,  with  a  sort  of  pitiful  air  to  think  how 
little  we  were  compared  to  him, —  we  sitting  there  only  receiving,  and  he  serv- 
ing the  great  gentleman  who  was  behind  the  stand. 

Well,  I  have  thought  a  good  many  times  of  that  in  the  course  of  my  life.  How 
it  lifts  up  a  man  if  you  are  only  serving  a  great  deal  greater  one,  and  how  it  lifts 
up  Christians  to  realize  who  our  Master  is  ! 

That  is  a  dignitied  view  of  Christianity.  That  ought  to  make  a  man  go  up 
toward  the  Son  as  he  takes  hold  of  the  thought. 

But  now  I  am  to  take  the  time  allotted  to  me  to  speak  of  what  fits  us  for  his 
service;  and  in  order  to  be  as  brief  and  condensed  as  possible  I  propose  to  say 
first  that  there  are  some  things  he  does  not  require.  He  does  not  require  great 
endowments,  nor  the  promise  of  great  accomplishments.  First  of  all,  God 
assures  us  through  Christ  as  our  Master  that  he  does  not  require  for  his  service 
that  we  shall  be  greatly  endowed.  Now,  do  not  suppose,  do  not  let  any  one 
think,  that  I  have  an  undervaluation  of  the  importance  of  endowments,  pow- 
ers of  nature,  powers  of  education,  or  anything  of  the  kind.  I  have  not;  far 
from  it.  There  is  not  anything  in  any  of  our  powers  equal  to  the  work  that 
God  can  call  us  to  do.  That  is  a  place  for  the  greatest  of  brains  and  biggest 
of  hearts  in  his  field  of  work.  The  leaders  of  the  world  have  been  the  Lord's 
men,  and  the  leaders  of  the  world  to-day  are  the  Lord's  men.  When  he  wanted 
to  have  a  law  given  us  he  chose  a  man  whose  fame  as  a  law-giver  should  last 
while  time  lasted.  He  found  him  in  Moses;  and  when  Moses  began  to  give 
laws  all  the  jurisprudents  of  the  world  took  pens  and  stood  ready  to  copy. 
There  has  been  no  improvement  on  the  laws  of  Moses,  and  the  greatest  jurists 
of  the  world  have  in  the  greatest  respect  looked  to  that  teacher  who  was  taught 
in  the  desert  by  God  as  his  teacher. 

God  wants  big  men.  He  can  use  big  men.  When  he  took  up  that  little  boy 
into  his  own  private  care  and  kept  him  through  childhood  and  until  he  was  thirty 
years  of  age,  secreted  him  so  no  person  could  mislead  his  education,  and  then 
brought  him  out  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  crying  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  make  his  paths  straight,"  God  had  a  man  there  big  enough  to  awake  a  world 
that  had  been  asleep  for  centuries.  He  uses  big  men.  Men  of  the  world  who 
have  been  leading  characters  have  been  God's  men. 

When  he  started  in  for  a  great  reformation  in  his  own  Church  he  had  a  man 

,  who  was  vast  enough  in  all  the  possibilities  of  his  nature  to  rise  above   every 

objection  and  every  position  and  persecution,  and  the  name  of  Martin  Luther 

can  not  be  blotted  out  of  human  history.     I  could  go  on  and  multiply  instances 

indefinitelv  of  great  men  God  has  chosen  to  do  his  work. 

But  while  God  has  chosen  these  big  men  for  his  uses,  thanks  be  to  his  holy 
name,  we  who  can  not  claim  any  such  extraordinary  powers  he  does  not  require 
to  possess  any  great  endowments. 

I  spoke  about  Moses.  Now  Moses  had  a  mother.  Her  name  was  Jocabed. 
I  venture  to  say  that  some  of  you  hardly  know  where  she  was  born,  who  her 
fathers  were.  I  do  not  suppose  Jocabed  was  ever  president  of  a  woman's  club. 
I  do  not  suppose  she  ever  read  a  paper  before  a  lotus  club.     I  do  not  suppose 


260  Official  Report  of  the 

she  ever  gave  an  afternoon  tea  in  her  hfe  ;  but  as  the  mother  of  Moses  she 
was  immense. 

Pharaoh  on  his  throne,  proud  and  tyrannical  potentate  that  he  was,  had  a 
daughter,  and  while  his  miserable  bones  have  mouldered  for  centuries  without 
respect  to  his  memory,  all  the  world  rejoices  that  his  daughter  was  there  to  take 
up  the  little  baby  out  of  the  bulrushes.  If  she  had  not  been  there  we  would 
not  have  had  the  big  man. 

It  is  possible  for  the  Lord  to  use  such  a  very  small  thing !  He  does  not  need 
to  use  a  big  man  ;  he  can  use  the  other  as  well  —  he  can  use  the  commonplace 
for  his  purpose. 

I  rejoice  that  Paul,  that  man  whose  name  stands  first,  next  to  Jesus  Christ 
—  as  big  a  man  as  he  declared  that  not  many  are  great  among  the  Lord's  men. 
God  chooses  the  weak  things  of  the  world.  That  is  his  way.  He  does  not 
need  great  endowments.  If  we  have  them,  he  takes  them.  If  we  do  not  have 
them,  he  does  not  need  them.  Moreover,  he  does  not  need  absolutely  that  we 
shall  have  great  promise  of  accomplishments  in  order  to  get  us  to  accomplish  a 
great  deal.  I  was  trying  to  get  a  young  man  a  place  in  Chicago  not  long  ago, 
and  the  first  question  that  the  proprietor  of  the  establishment  to  which  I  applied 
asked  me  was,  "  Where  has  the  young  man  been ;  what  has  he  done;  has  he 
been  a  success  .''  "  I  said,  "  Well,  I  am  sorry  to  say  the  poor  fellow  has  not 
gotten  up  very  high  so  far  as  worldly  success  goes."  The  gentleman  replied, 
"  Then  I  do  not  want  him.  He  could  be  of  little  use  to  me.  My  business  is  a 
big  one.  I  do  not  want  any  man  around  me  who  has  not  already  given  good 
promise  of  success.  That  is  a  rule  in  my  business."  Continuing,  the  man  said, 
"  I  am  out  of  patience  with  these  failures  in  life,  and  unless  a  man  has  proven  a 
success  you  need  not  bring  him  to  me." 

That  is  the  way  the  business  man  of  the  world  looks  at  it.  Another  great 
business  man  who  hires  thousands  of  men  said  to  me  when  I  was  trying  to  get 
a  young  man  a  place  in  his  factory,  "  In  our  factory  a  man's  stool  is  worth  so 
much  to  us  in  his  expense  account.  He  has  got  to  know  before  he  goes  there 
how  to  fill  that  stool  and  give  good  promise  that  he  will  succeed.  Otherwise, 
he  can  not  have  the  stool." 

Now,  blessed  be  the  Lord,  he  does  not  ask  me  whether  I  am  to  be  a  great 
success  or  not  be  a  great  success.  You  have  probably  heard  people  say  that 
often  when  there  are  three  or  four  boys  in  a  family,  and  one  boy  has  not  as 
much  brains  as  the  other  boys,  they  decide  to  make  him  a  minister.  If  a  man 
does  not  know  anything  more  than  to  pray,  and  sing,  and  preach,  they  put  him 
in  the  pulpit ;  but  the  brainy  boys  they  make  business  men  out  of. 

Now  I  am  inclined  to  think  there  is  a  little  correction  needed  on  this  line. 
I  was  talking  to  one  of  my  fellows  about  that,  and  he  was  speaking  of  ministers 
being  of  the  other  world  rather  than  of  this  world :  and  I  said,  "  Look  here,  my 
dear  boy,  are  you  not  a  little  wrong  about  this  1  The  largest  educational  insti- 
tutions that  this  country  has  ever  produced  have  been  founded  by  ministers 
and  controlled  by  ministers.  They  were  the  boys  that  had  no  brains,  you  say, 
and  therefore  were  made  ministers.  You  are  mistaken  in  that,  I  am  sure;" 
and  I  gave  that  fellow  several  other  illustrations,  and  I  might  have  added 
this:  "  Do  you  know  in  the  great  thought  of  God  it  occurred  that  there  had 
better  be  a  Christian  Endeavor  movement  in  the  world;  and  he  did  not  take 
a  business  man  to  tliink  it  out.  " 

All  the  wonderful  wisdom  manifested  in  the  management  of  this  unparalleled 
successful  movement  has  been  in  the  hands  of  those  who,  perhaps,  when  they 
were  boys,  were  thought  by  mama  and  papa  to  be  rather  the  weaklings;  who 
could  not  stand  the  rough  work  of  the  world,  and  so  they  let  them  go  into  the 
ministry,  —  praise  the  Lord! 

Where  would  we  be  to-night  if  they  had  not?  The  Lord  does  not  need 
accomplishments  to  begin  with.  What  does  he  need.?  I  think  God  requires  of 
us,  first,  a  self-effacing  affection  for  his  personality;  unhesitating  obedience  to 
his  word,  and  abounding  confidence  in  his  power  to  conquer  and  his  assurance 
of  reward.  I  think  those  are  his  positive  conditions  of  fitness.  First  of  all,  a 
self-effacing  affection  for  Jesus  Christ,  our  Master,  as  a  person.     Who  were  the 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  261 

mighty  Christians  of  history?  Who  are  the  strongest  of  them  now?  Those 
who  believe  in  a  form  of  religion;  who  are  very  much  interested  in  the  cere- 
monials of  religion,  or  creeds  of  religion.  I  believe  in  the  creeds  of  religion. 
I  believe  in  the  ceremonies  of  religion,  but  I  maintain  that  is  not  the  begin- 
ning of  power.  I  believe  the  first  thing  is  self-effacing  affection  for  Christ. 
The  trouble  is  that  we  get  our  personality  between  him  and  us,  —  our  person- 
ality. I  think  of  what  Bishop  Phillips  Brooks  said  in  his  course  of  lectures, 
when  he  talked  of  the  man  behind  the  sermon,  the  Christian  behind  the  Chris- 
tian profession,  —  the  personality.  How  big  is  that  ?  Is  it  so  big  that  you  and  I 
are  everything,  and  Christ  a  small  affair?  Occasionally  I  think  we  regard  Christ 
as  a  sort  of  nonentity  that  the  Church  has  got  to  talking  about,  and  we  have 
lost  the  mighty  power  of  a  personal  view  of  him.  There  is  something  sublime  in 
those  old  words  in  the  Hebrews,  "Seeing  him  who  is  invisible."  I  believe 
firmly  with  those  who  profess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  One  who  was  invisible. 
You  recollect  that  they  did  seem  to  have  a  view  within  the  veil  that  many  of  us 
know  nothing  about.  You  take  the  strong  Christians  whose  names  stand  out  in 
history:  Thomas  k  Kempis  and  William  Law,  that  man  whose  books  ought 
not  to  be  out  of  circulation  as  they  are.  There  is  a  nearness  of  view  that  such 
men  had  that  made  them  irresistibly  mighty  in  their  Master's  service.  Dear  Dr. 
Gordon,  of  Boston,  that  man  whom  I  love  as  I  hardly  love  any  other  minister, 
has  written  a  song  that  seems  to  me  to  surpass  anything  else  he  ever  wrote, — 
"My  Jesus,  if  I  ever  need  love  thee,  my  Jesus,  it  is  Now."  It  was  the  close 
approach  of  his  soul  to  Christ  that  empowered  him,  made  him  fit  for 
service.  Nothing  else  does.  When  Diogenes  asked  the  monarch  Alexander 
what  he  could  do  to  serve  him,  Alexander  said  to  the  old  sinner,  "  Stand  out  of 
my  light."  I  think  we  are  inclined  to  get  between  our  Master  and  the  thing  we 
do ;  instead  of  having  him  everything,  we  are  the  big  factor. 

Talking  to  Dr,  Clark  last  night,  I  was  delighted  to  hear  him  say  what  he 
has  said  many  times  before,  publicly  and  privately.  When  I  was  expressing 
my  admiration  for  our  Christian  Endeavor  work,  referring  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  not  organized  to  death,  that  there  is  some  freedom  and  liberty,  he  said, 
"  Oh,  it  is  my  constant  desire  to  keep  the  hand  off  the  ark."  Let  our  personality 
not  come  in  the  way  of  Christ.  Let  us  first  have  a  self-effacing  affection  for 
him.  That  is  the  first  condition  of  service.  Another  thing ;  thaf  is,  we  must 
keep  out  our  professionalism.  What  an  expression  that  is  of  Paul,  when  he 
says  of  those  in  Corinth  that  one  says,  "I  go  for  Paul;"  another,  "  I  go  for 
Apollos  ;  "  another,  "  I  for  Cephas  ;"  and  then  some  poor  little  disciple  peeped 
up  and  said,  "  I  go  for  Christ."  Christ  had  to  come  in  last,  after  three  others. 
And  so  some  of  you  say  you  are  a  Baptist,  or  you  are  a  Congregationalist,  or 
you  are  a  Presbyterian;  and  another,  "I  go  for  the  Lutherans,"  and  another, 
"  I  believe  in  the  Methodists."  Now,  is  it  not  quite  possible  that  the  Church 
is  ofttimes  bigger  than  our  Lord,  and  that  it  is  often  "  I  am  a  Presbyterian  or 
a  Calvinist"  rather  than  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?  I  fear  it  is. 
How  is  it  with  you  in  your  Church  ?  Do  you  hear  more  people  say,  "  I  am 
for  Christ "  than  "  I  am  for  Cephas,"  and  "  I  am  for  the  pastor,"  or  "  for  the  last 
pastor, —  I  am  for  the  new  pastor'"  ?     Principally  for  the  last  pastor. 

Obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice.  Obedience  that  is  based  on  a  prom- 
issory note  never  gets  paid.  What  he  wants  is  obedience  to  the  letter; 
obedience  that  is  paid  on  demand.  That  is  the  kind  of  obedience  my  Master 
wants  of  me.  Not  that  I  am  going  to  take  this,  or  do  this,  next  week,  but  do  it 
mow.  Procrastination  taught  me  when  I  was  a  child  that  it  was  the  thief  of 
time,  and  I  have  learned  that  it  is  the  forty  thieves  in  one.  So  I  say  if  we  can 
only  get  the  idea  of  what  it  means,  be  actually  ready  at  any  minute,  that  means 
everything. 

Friends,  it  is  really  good  to  get  one  of  the  great  figures  of  history  before 
you.  I  like  to  look  at  Abraham.  He  was  a  man  the  size  of  whom  you  don't 
see  grown  nowadays.  I  want  to  know  if  anybody  here  can  tell  how  black  his 
hair  was;  how  his  features  looked,  and  can  re-produce  them  as  if  a  photograph 
had  been  taken  of  his  face?  How  was  the  strength  of  that  face  mostly  shown  ? 
It  was  never  shown  at  all  until  God   called  that  man  to  stand  out  alone  from 


262  Official  Report  of  the 

the  world.  Every  other  man  on  the  earth  was  an  idolater,  and  God  called  him 
to  stand  out ;  and  when  Abraham  heard  the  voice  of  God  when  he  said,  "  Leave 
your  own  land  and  your  father's  house,"  he  did  not  tell  him  where  he  was  to  go, 
he  did  not  promise  him  afoot  of  ground,  but  said,  "  Go  forward."  That  was  all 
Abraham  knew,  and  he  did  not  liesitate.  And  when  you  see  him  a  little  later, 
starting  with  that  only  child,  on  whom  his  heart  was  set  as  never  yours  has 
been  set  on  your  children,  as  much  as  you  love  them  —  when  we  see  that  man 
following  an  unseen  God,  listening  to  a  voice  that  was  not  addressed  to  his  ear, 
but  his  heart,  and  going  up  one  day,  the  second  day,  the  third  day,  to  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  and  lifting  up  that  knife  to  strike  his  son, —  that  is  obedience. 

When  you  and  I  have  the  Spirit  like  that  the  Lord  will  make  ten  men  out  of 
one  of  us.  That  simple  spirit  of  obedience,  the  spirit  that  we  are  following  God, 
makes  us  irresistible.     That  is  what  we  want, —  obedience. 

It  is  told  —  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  true  —  in  regard  to  the  first  time  Mr. 
Stanley  went  to  Africa,  that  he  was  in  Paris  when  Mr.  Gordon  Bennett  saw  him 
and  said  to  him  that  he  wanted  him  to  go  to  Africa  as  his  representative —  I 
have  never  seen  this  contradicted.  He  went  to  liis  hotel,  and  knocking  on  his 
outside  door  was  admitted,  and  he  told  Mr.  Stanley  what  he  wanted,  and 
Stanley  consented  to  go  ;  to  go  into  the  interior  of  Africa  where  but  one  white 
man  had  ever  trod,  and  no  one  knew  whether  or  not  he  was  alive.  "  When  are 
you  ready  to  go  ?  "  said  Mr.  Bennett. 

"  To-morrow  morning."  answered  Stanley. 

That  is  the  kind  of  obedience  I  am  sure  pleases  God, —  not  that  I  will  do  it 
by  and  by,  some  other  day,  some  other  convenient  season,  but  now. 

There  may  be  somebody  here  who  is  not  a  Christian.  If  so,  he  has  probably 
promised  himself  to  become  one  at  some  future  day.  He  wants  you  to  do  it 
now, —  now.  Obedience  unhesitating  right  now  !  That  is  the  way  every  par- 
ent likes  his  children  to  act.  I  do  not  like  this  thing  of  "  Just  wait  a  minute 
and  I  will  do  it."  I  have  heard  of  a  boy  who  was  asked  by  his  mother  to  bring  a 
pail  of  water.  He  said,  "  By  and  by."  Every  few  minutes  she  would  say  to 
him,  "  Have  you  brought  that  water.?"  and  he  would  answer,  "  No,  but  I  will 
bring  it  in  a  minute  or  two."  And  the  day  wore  on,  and  at  night  his  mother 
called  him  and  said,  "  Have  you  brought  that  water  ?"  and  he  replied,"!  de- 
clare I  have  forgotten  that  pail  of  water." 

And  so  it  is  every  day  with  the  children  of  God, —  we  are  putting  off  from 
day  to  day  what  we  ought  to  do  now.  Instantaneous,  absolute  obedience  — 
that  is  what  we  want  to  be  better  Christians. 

There  is  another  thing  necessary.  It  is  abounding  confidence  in  our  Leader, 
that  he  has  power  to  conquer.  I  tell  you  it  is  the  Christian  who  believes 
that  this  world  is  to  be  for  Christ  that  will  work  for  that  end.  Just  as  soon  as 
we  can  get  our  hearts  full  of  the  thought  that  this  world  is  to  be  for  Christ,  the 
kingdom  of  God  will  come.  With  that  thought  in  our  hearts  we  will  become 
mighty  compared  with  what  we  were. 

When  Wellington  was  at  his  best,  had  never  lost  a  battle,  he  came  on  the 
field  one  day  where  defeat  stared  him  in  the  face.  But  there  went  up  the  cry, 
"  Here  come  30,000  men."  The  soldiers  were  filled  with  new  courage  and  con- 
fidence ;  the  victory  was  won. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  victory  of  General  Sheridan  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia,  how  he  turned  defeat  into  victory  by  coming  on  the  field,  because  his 
men  had  confidence  in  him  as  a  leader. 

A  man  who  has  no  faith  in  the  success  of  missionaries  does  not  contribute 
to  the  cause.  It  is  only  when  we  feel  that  this  world  is  to  be  for  Christ  that  we 
are  ready  to  go  to  work.  Christ  said  to  his  disciples  the  first  thing,  "  Go  you  and 
stay  by  this  until  you  receive  power  from  on  high,  and  you  shall  receive  power 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  has  come  upon  you,"  a  full  conviction  that  will  result  in 
the  incoming  of  grace  that  will  make  us  clarified,  new  men  and  women.  That 
is  an  essential  of  successful  service. 

Never  since  I  began  to  preach  has  the  relation  between  Master  and  man 
been  more  strained  than  it  is  at  the  present  time.  In  all  the  country  there  is 
anxiety  as  to  what  may  next  come.     This  anxiety  is  largely  because  they  that 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  263 

are  paid  for  service  are  being  paid  so  poorly  that  the  wage  question  is  likely  to 
be  a  wedge  question  to  split  us  if  we  do  not  have  it  arranged  better  than  this. 
When  we  think  of  a  woman  who  has  to  work  all  day  and  get  but  seventy-live 
cents  for  making  a  dozen  shirts,  a  woman  finishing  off  a  fine  cloak  for  four 
cents,  working  twelve  hours  in  the  day,  and  getting  one  dollar  at  the  end  of  the 
week  for  her  service,  it  is  sad!  Think  of  it.  Oh,  it  is  sad  we  have  this  way  of 
rewarding  work  in  this  world.  Our  blessed  Lord  did  not  look  upon  this  as 
right. 

When  Thomas  Hood  wrote, 

"  With  fingers  weary  and  worn, 
With  eyelids  heavy  and  red, 
A  woman  sat  in  unwomanly  rags. 
Plying  her  needle  and  thread. 

"  Work,  work,  work! 

Her  labor  never  flags. 
And  what  are  its  wages, —  a  bed  of  straw, 

A  crust  of  bread,  and  rags, 
That  shattered  roof  and  this  naked  floor, 
A  table,  a  broken  chair, 
And  the  wall  so  blank 
My  shadow  I  thank 
For  sometimes  falling  there," 

he  did  not  write  from  his  imagination.  It  was  a  real  scene  tliat  Hood 
described.  This  day  my  eyes  fell  upon  some  lines  written  by  a  privileged 
friend  of  the  merry  poet.  Dr.  Holmes,  who  always  sung  on  his  pages  as  if  he 
were  full  of  blithesome  gladness,  and  nothing  else.  This  privileged  friend 
told  me  that  while  in  conversation  with  Dr.  Holmes  he  heard  him  say,  "  Oh,  I 
laugh  outside,  but  I  never  laugh  inside  ;  I  cannot,  it  is  impossible,  the  world  is 
so  sad.  Oh,  the  poor  women  !  "  he  says,  "  it  breaks  my  heart  to  think  of  what 
the  poor  women  endure.  " 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  Lord's  side.  There  came  a  poor  woman  with  a 
little  box  of  ointment,  and  poured  it  on  his  head,  and  the  odor  of  it  fills  the 
world  to-day.  There  came  another  poor  woman  into  his  house.  She  had  but 
a  farthing,  but  she  loved  God  so  truly  and  personally  that  she  put  her  one 
farthing  into  his  treasury,  and  Jesus  looking  said  ,  "  Wherever  this  gospel  shall 
be  preached,  it  shall  be  told  of  her  that  she  has  done  that.  "  That  is  his  way 
of  rewarding  ;  and  to  you  who  have  not  even  a  penny  —  not  a  penny  —  he  care- 
fully put  it  down  that  if  you  will  give  but  one  cup  of  cold  water  to  thirsty  lips 
because  you  love  him,  and  for  his  sake,  you  will  not  miss  your  reward.  Do  not 
let  us  lose  heart  to  think  that  we  are  not  going  to  get  anything.  Let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  our  life  here  is  brief,  but  in  the  world  to  come  we  are  to  have  life 
everlasting. 

Christians,  let  us  get  ready,  recognizing  the  conditions,  and  then  we  will 
all  meet  together  in  a  day  of  rejoicing,  to  sing  of  the  reward. 

The  last  speaker  introduced  vi^as  Rev.  Frederick  J.  Stanley,  D.D. 
Mr.  Stanley,  while  now  residing  in  New  York,  spent  many  years  of  his 
life  in  Japan. 

Address  of  Rev.  Frederick  J.  Stanley,  D.D.,  Newburgh,  N.  Y. 

Touch  the  Christian  Endeavor  button,  as  electric  current,  and  the  thrill  is 
f^lt  at  the  four  corners  of  the  globe. 

This  world  for  Christ !  Most  certainly.  The  decree  declared,  per  Psalm  ii., 
verses  7  and  8:  "  I  have  declared  the  decree.  .  .  .  Thou  art  my  Son.  .  .  .  Ask 
of  me  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession." 

The  four  grand  lines  along  which  the  Christian  Endeavorers  now  labor,  as 
four  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  "The  World  for  Christ,"  the  north,  or 
magnet,  to  which  the  needle  ever  points,  guiding  the  unified  body.  "  Evangel- 
istic Endeavor,"  "  Christian  Citizenship,"  and  "  Rescue  of  the  Sabbath  "  are 
the  other  three  cardinal  points. 


264  Official  Report  of  the 

Four  great  movements  in  this  last  century  —  as  tlie  century  of  centuries. 
These  by  young  people,  as  a  rule,  and  for  the  young. 

Modern  Sabbath  school  (Robert  Raikes,  little  over  forty),  in  1781,  for  the 
young;  modern  mission  movement,  in  1794,  by  young  William  Carey,  and  in 
1806  by  young  students  in  Williams  College,  of  America  ;  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  in  1844, 
by  young  George  Williams,  in  London;  the  climax  of  all,  the  young  pastor  in 
Portland,  Me.,  in  1881  (only  fifteen  years  ago),  giving  to  the  Church  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  organization,  for  and  by  the  young  of  the  world.  This  is  the 
culmination  of  all  the  previous  great  movements  of  this  marvelous  century 
of    centuries. 

Nearly  one  and  a  half  millions  of  communicants  sit  down  to  the  Lord's  table 
in  heathen  lands  to-day.  A  hundred  years  ago  scarcely  a  hundred,  says  one, 
and  but  five  missionary  societies,  whereas,  to-day,  there  are  139,  besides  their 
many  hundreds  of  auxiliaries. 

What  means  this.-"     The  time  has  come  for  the  Christian  Endeavor  army  to 
march  in  and  largely  be  God's  instrument  to  take  this  world  for  Christ. 
What  hath  God  wrought  already  in  this  century? 

The  Bible  translated  into  386  languages  and  dialects,  so  that  nine-tenths  of 
all  the  race  can  read  (not  do,  but  may  read)  the  Word  of  God  in  their  own 
tongue  ;  whereas,  one  hundred  years  ago,  but  forty-four  languages  all  told,  as  the 
result  of  eighteen  centuries'  translation  previous  to  this  nineteenth  century. 
Only  "make  Jesus  King,"  a  voice  from  the  distant  lands  to  the  Church  of 
Europe  and  America,  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  every  nation  echoes  the  plea 
around  the  globe  to-night. 

Were  our  ancestors  of  seventy-five  and  a  hundred  years  ago  to  return  for 
twenty-four  hours  to  this  mundane  sphere,  they  would  stand  aghast  at  the  won- 
derful achievements,  as  they  look  at  this  world  moved  mightily  by  gas,  steam, 
and  electricity  ! 

But  gas,  steam,  and  electricity  have  been  latent  powers  in  and  around  this 
earth  for  thousands  and  millions  of  years.  Only  within  the  past  seventy-five 
years  have  these  latent  powers  been  developed  to  produce  such  marvelous 
results. 

Twenty-five  years  hence  some  will  stand  on  the  platform  and  marvel  that  for 
centuries  the  Church  allowed  the  powers  and  talents  of  the  young  to  remain 
latent,  and  only  within  the  past  half-century  —  it  will  then  have  been  in  1920, 
A.  D.  — shall  these  powers  of  religious  activity  have  been  developed  to  bless  the 
Church  and  mankind  in  bringing  this  world  to  the  Cross,  to  crown  Him  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords. 

Dr.  Stanley  wanted  a  new  interpretation  of  the  letters  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  so  that 
it  might  read  "You  Preach  Salvation,  Christ  Everywhere."  The  Christian 
Endeavorer  should  be  world-wide.  Gladstone  had  said  that  the  great  question 
before  the  world  was  Christianity  as  the  thing  wanted  for  uplifting  the  people; 
and  the  great  Chinese  diplomat,  Li  of  China,  had  pleaded  with  a  Baptist  mis- 
sionary to  send  more  Christian  missionaries  to  China  to  lift  up  the  people  of 
his  country.  If  the  Christian  Endeavorers  did  not  go  into  the  whole  world  with 
their  Society  some  other  organization  would  be  raised  up  to  take  its  place. 


SATURDAY  HORNINQ. 


Tent  Williston. 

The  Junior  rally  took  second  place  to  no  other  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention. Its  size  was  not  even  limited  by  the  confines  of  Tent  Willis- 
ton,  but  stretched  out  onto  the  White  Lot,  where  thousands  gathered  to 
see  and  hear.    The  enthusiasm  was  unsurpassed.  Again  and  again  and 


Fiftec7itJi  hiter7iational  Convention.  265 

again  did  the  audience  rise  up  and  cheer  and  applaud  and  wave  handker- 
chiefs, fans,  hats,  and  umbrellas.  No  one  who  did  not  see  the  thrilling 
sight  can  appreciate  the  beauty  and  inspiration  of  the  great  Junior  rally. 

The  Juniors  themselves,  all  except  the  seven  hundred  on  the  plat- 
form, occupied  the  seats  in  the  front  of  the  tent  to  the  number  of  more 
than  a  thousand.  They  bore  their  banners  and  badges,  and  were  an 
impressive  spectacle.  A  large  band  of  Juniors  from  the  orphan  asylum 
were  among  the  last  to  arrive.  On  the  platform  was  a  scene  lovelier 
than  any  of  the  city's  floral  displays.  The  Juniors  were  massed  to- 
gether with  beautiful  effect.  A  hundred  girls  all  in  white,  bearing  Ameri- 
can flags,  and  wearing  red,  white,  and  blue  sashes,  occupied  the  front 
rows.  Behind  them  were  a  large  company  of  Juniors  in  various  foreign 
costumes,  each  carrying  the  flag  of  the  nation  he  represented.  Still 
further  back,  and  to  the  sides,  were  the  Juniors  of  the  chorus. 

Several  songs  by  this  chorus,  under  Mr.  Percy  S.  Foster's  leadership, 
opened  the  exercises.  How  they  did  sing !  And  how  they  were 
applauded  ! 

Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  of  Chester,  England,  led  the  devotional 
exercises,  in  which  the  Twenty-third  Psalm  was  repeated  responsively. 
A  welcome  in  verse  was  manfully  delivered  by  a  Washington  Junior, 
Raymond  Miles. 

Address  of  Raymond  Miles,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Juniors  from  North  and  West  and  South, 

All  over  our  broad  land, 
The  boys  and  girls  of  Washington 

Together  with  you  stand. 
We  want  to  bid  you  welcome  here, 

But  find  no  word  to  say 
How  earnestly  and  joyfully 

We  greet  you  all  to  day. 
It  's  "  Welcome  home  "  we  say  to  you — 

This  is  your  city,  too. 
Dear  to  each  boy  and  girl  beneath 

Our  own  Red,  White,  and  Blue. 

To  vou,  dear  friends  from  other  lands, 

Who've  journeyed  far  to  come. 
We  give  an  earnest  welcome  now 

From  every  heart  and  home. 
You  can  not  feel  like  strangers  here — 

Such  thing  could  never  be. 
"  One  is  our  Master,  even  Christ, 

And  brethren  all  are  we." 
And  tho'   we  work  in  different  lands, 

Our  work  is  still  the  same, — 
To  do  what  boys  and  girls  can  do, 

In  Jesus'  blessed  name. 

* 

And  as  friends  speak  this  afternoon 

Strong  words  of  help  and  cheer, 
Hark!  From  Juniors  everywhere 

A  mighty  chorus  hear  ! 
From  Juniors  who.  with  their  own  flags, 

Christ's  banner  lift  unfurled, 
And  who,  with  glad,  unfaltering  step, 

Are  marching  round  the  world. 
Then  let  us  pass  the  greeting  on. 

And  so — in  our  small  way — 
Help  make  the  world  the  happier  place 

Because  we  met  to-day. 


266  Official  Report  of  the 

The  presiding  officer,  Rev.  George  B.  Stewart,  D.D.,  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  responded. 

Address  of  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Stewart,  D.D.,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

Oh  that  I  were  a  poet  !  I  never  wanted  to  be  able  to  compose  poetry  so 
much  in  my  life  as  I  do  now,  for  nothing  but  poetry  of  the  most  rhapsodic 
character  could  give  expression  to  our  feelings  of  delight  in  responding  to  this 
most  cordial  and  happily  expressed  welcome.  It  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  make 
answer  to  this  address  of  welcome,  and  unfortunately,  you  have  to  listen  to 
nothing  but  prosaic  prose  of  the  most  prosaic  character. 

It  may  have  seemed  to  some  of  you  a  few  moments  ago  that  I  used  language 
of  extravagance  when  I  asked  the  question  whether  heaven  could  be  very 
much  better  than  this.  It  at  least  seems  to  me  that  we  have  to-day  a  very  large 
section  of  heaven  here.  Our  Lord  has  given  us  abundant  assurance  that 
children  are  to  be  there,  and  are  to  be  there  in  force.  The  Word  of  God  said 
that  the  streets  of  that  New  Jerusalem  were  to  be  filled  with  boys  and  girls.  It 
would  not  be  heaven,  it  seems  to  me,  if  there  were  no  children  there.  What  is 
home  without  children  in  this  land  1  Would  God  that  every  home  had  chil- 
dren !  Oh,  that  the  condemnation  of  society  might  rest  upon  those  homes  that 
scorn  children  !  We  here  to-day  not  simply  give  our  endorsement  to  Junior 
Endeavorers  and  our  efforts  to  save  the  children,  and  make  them  of  value  in 
their  young  years  unto  the  State,  but  we  here  give  our  most  solemn  pledge  to 
the  land  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  the  world  over  proposes  to  put 
its  seal  of  approval  upon  childhood.  I  rejoice  that  it  has  given  me  the  privilege 
to-day  to  preside  over  this  rally. 

What  are  boys  good  for  ?  Lots  of  things.  They  make  men  of  them,  and 
that  is  one  of  the  best  things.  And  the  girls  1  Why,  they  make  women  of  girls, 
and  that  is  a  great  deal  better.  You  never  heard  of  a  man  selecting  a  man  for 
a  wife.  Why,  we  would  not  have  one.  A  boy  said  to  his  father,  "  Papa,  when 
I  get  to  be  big  I  am  going  to  do  just  as  you  do.  I  am  going  to  have  a  soft 
snap  and  make  Ma  run  around  and  wait  on  you  and  do  everything  you  want 
her  to  do."  Oh,  that  to  me  —  I  do  not  mean  it  in  its  servile  character,  there  is 
altogether  too  much  of  that  —  but  that  to  me  in  its  essence  is  the  proud  dis- 
tinction of  woman.  She  serves  the  home;  she  serves  the  country;  she  serves 
her  God.  Girls, be  such  a  woman!  Boys,  never  get  in  late!  Always  be  in 
the  front  row  !  Be  assured  that  your  best  days  are  coming,  and  they  are  many. 
Somebody  has  said,  "  Oh,  for  the  glad  days  of  youth  and  its  careless  abandon 
and  its  freedom  from  care,  thought,  and  anxiety  !  "  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  boys. 
If  I  know  anything  about  life  the  best  of  your  life  is  yet  to  come.  There  is  no 
joy,  there  is  no  happiness,  there  is  no  blessing  like  the  blessing  that  comes  to 
men  in  the  pursuit  of  the  higher  callings  of  manhood.  When  you  go  out  into 
the  activities  of  life,  when  you  go  out  into  the  full  power  of  your  vigorous  and 
mature  years,  then  indeed  have  you  come  into  the  blessings  of  life.  I  heard 
Sir  George  Williams  —  a  name  that  is  known  around  the  world  and  always 
honored  wherever  known —  I  heard  Sir  George  Williams  say  a  few  months  ago, 
in  Exeter  Hall,  "  There  are  some  who  think  that  youth  is  the  happiest  period 
of  manhood.  I  want  to  say  to  you  young  men  that  the  very  happiest  period  of 
a  man's  life  are  the  years  between  seventy  and  eighty.  You  will  never  know 
what  happiness  is  until  you  come  to  those  mature  years  of  seventy  and  eighty.  I 
know  what  I  am  talking  about,"  said  he.  But  some  one  spoke  up  out  of  the 
audience  and  said,  "Yes;  but  you  must  live  as  boys  and  young  men  as  Sir 
George  Williams  lived  to  be  able  to  say  that."  And  that  is  true,  too. _  Start 
right  and  you  will  go  right.  Success  is  at  the  top.  You  must  begin  right  at 
the  bottom  if  you  wish  to  get  there. 

I  respond  with  all  my  heart  for  myself,  for  this  large  representation  from 
America  on  both  sides  of  the  Lake  and  below,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Gulf,  for  the  countries  beyond  the  sea  that  is  called  Pacific,  and  beyond  that 
sea  which  is  anything  but  pacific,  to  bid  you  a  cordial  welcome.     It  is  a  great 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  267 

joy  to  us  to  be  in  this  Junior  rally,  to  be  present  with  you  in  this  promised 
heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  capital  of  the  universe  of  God. 

After  song  by  the  chorus,  Dr.  Stewart  said  :  — 

We  will  now  attend  to  the  Junior  exercise,  which  has  been  arranged  by  Mrs. 
James  L.  Hill,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  entitled,  "  The  Juniors'  Love  of  Country,"  and 
it  will  be  rendered  by  the  Washington  Juniors. 

The  exercise,  "The  Juniors'  Love  of  Country,"  was  prepared  to  give 
special  emphasis  to  good  citizenship.  The  love  of  home  is  felt  in 
every  land,  and  good  citizenship  is  as  appropriate  to  one  clime  as  to 
another,  and  flourishes  in  every  soil,  and  so  boys  and  girls  represent- 
ing the  loyal  Juniors  of  different  nations  spoke  the  praises  of  the  vari- 
ous countries  in  which  Junior  Endeavor  Societies  exist.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  exercise  a  young  lady  personating  Christian  Endeavor,  and 
called  Saint  Christian  Endeavor,  came  upon  the  platform  leading  a 
procession  of  forty-eight  girls,  dressed  in  white,  with  red,  white,  and 
blue  sashes,  each  bearing  two  flags  and  representing  the  states  and 
territories  of  our  own  land.  After  some  very  pretty  movements  the 
marchers  halted  in  a  double  semicircle  about  Saint  Christian  Endeavor, 
and  made  a  thrilling  effect  by  lifting  their  ninety-six  flags  and  singing 
"  The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  The  marchers  then  withdrew  and 
Juniors  gave  brief  recitations  on  patriotism. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  section  of  the  march,  which  contained  dif- 
ferent figures  and  evolutions  from  the  preceding  one,  the  girls  halted 
in  a  column  four  by  twelve  upon  one  side  of  the  platform,  and  the  Jun- 
iors representing  the  different  nations,  with  their  various  banners, 
came  in  upon  the  other  side.  In  this  position  all  the  boys  and  girls  of 
the  Queen's  countries  having  Junior  Societies  (  England,  Ireland,  Scot- 
land, Wales,  Canada,  Australia,  and  India)  sang  responsively,  with  the 
girls  of  the  flag  march,  " God  Save  the  Queen"  and  "My  Country, 
'T  is  of  Thee,"  each  company  in  turn  holding  aloft  its  flags  while  sing- 
ing its  national  air.  The  marchers  then  withdrew,  passing  under  the 
English  and  American  flags  crossed  above  them,  and  left  upon  the 
platform  all  the  foreign  Juniors,  who  gave  brief  recitations  expressive 
of  their  individual  love  of  country. 

The  third  section  of  the  march  contained  the  most  complex  evolu- 
tions of  all,  and  the  coiling  and  uncoiling  of  the  two  lines  of  marchers 
seemed  like  a  brilliant  dissolving  view.  The  marchers  having  halted 
in  the  form  of  a  semicircle.  Saint  Christian  Endeavor,  with  the  mission- 
ary and  temperance  committees  (important  factors  in  good  citizenship), 
ca<ne  into  the  semicircle  space.  As  the  scenes  at  the  close  of  the  two 
previous  marches  gave  emphasis  to  the  patriotic  idea, —  the  first  march 
terminating  with  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  "  and  the  second  making 
conspicuous  the  banners  of  different  nations. —  so  this  section  of  the 
exercise  gave  special  prominence  to  the  religious  element,  and  with 
Christian  Endeavor  flags  held  aloft,  all  sang  "  The  Banner  of  the 
Cross."  Missionary  and  temperance  recitations  and  songs  followed, 
and  then  came  the  fourth  and  final  march.     In  this  the  marchers  came 


268  Official  Report  of  the 

up  in  twos,  in  fours,  in  eights,  and  in  sixteens,  and  halted  in  solid  pha- 
lanx sixteen  abreast.  All  the  Juniors  of  all  nations  and  committees 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  exercises  quickly  grouped  themselves 
around  the  marchers,  and  together  with  the  whole  Junior  chorus,  who 
had  risen  in  their  places,  chanted  with  great  impressiveness,  "  Trusting 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength,  I  promise  him  that  I  will  strive 
to  do  whatever  he  would  like  to  have  me  do,"  the  Junior  Christian 
Endeavor  pledge  set  to  music  by  Mrs.  Hill.  All  the  Juniors  remained 
standing,  and  the  audience  rose,  and  the  orchestra  lending  its  aid,  all 
joined  in  singing  as  a  final  full  chorus, 

"  Christ  for  the  world  we  sing, 
The  world  to  Christ  we  bring." 

President  Bagby,  of  the  Washington  Junior  Union,  was  introduced, 
and  spoke  of  the  fact  that  the  day  was  Mrs.  Hill's  birthday,  and  that 
the  Juniors  wished  to  remember  it.  She  was  then  presented  with  a 
large  bunch  of  roses  by  a  tiny  girl.  Mrs.  Hill,  who  had  been  received 
with  much  enthusiasm,  made  an  appropriate  response. 

Dr.  Stewart  then  introduced  President  Clark,  and  he  was  given  a 
hearty  greeting  by  the  boys  and  girls. 

Address  of  President  Francis  E.  Clark. 

Dear  Juniors,  Boys  and  Girls : — I  am  put  down  on  the  programme  for  a  greet- 
ing; but  I  do  not  bring  greetings.  I  want  you  to  send  the  greetings.  I  want  to 
take  the  impression  of  this  great  audience  and  this  beautiful  sight  with  me  all 
the  coming  year.  One  week  from  next  Thursday,  on  the  23d  of  July,  Mrs.  Clark 
and  1  sail  for  the  other  side  of  the  sea.  We  shall  see  many  Juniors  in  many 
lands,  and  I  want  to  take  with  me  your  greetings,  and  I  want  you  to  send  them. 
I  thmk  you  are  all  ready  to  send  them,  and  when  we  get  to  these  lands  and 
look  into  the  faces  of  strange  Juniors  with  different  complexions  from  yours, 
and  in  different  costumes,  we  shall  think  of  this  beautiful  sight  and  the  greet- 
ings that  you  send.  Now  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  send  them  by  standing 
and  waving  your  flags  or  your  handkerchiefs,  or  if  you  have  not  any  handker- 
chiefs, by  clapping  your  hands,  and  then  I  will  take  them  with  me.  Over  there 
they  do  not  like  whistling,  but  they  like  every  other  kind  of  demonstration  ;  just 
as  much  noise  as  you  can  make,  except  whistling. 

Now  in  the  first  place,  we  are  going  to  Germany,  and  we  shall  see  some 
German  Juniors.  Do  you  want  to  send  your  greetings  to  them  ?  If  so,  let  me 
know  it.  (Great  cheering  and  waving  of  flags  and  handkerchiefs  by  the  chorus.) 
There  is  a  cheer  from  the  Juniors,  and  now  I  want  to  take  the  same  greetings 
of  the  audience  here  as  well  as  the  audience  there.  (Cheering  by  the  audience.) 
Then  we  shall  go  to  Scandinavia,  to  Sweden,  to  Norway,  and  Denmark.  Do 
you  want  to  send  your  greeting  to  those  countries?  If  so,  say  so.  (Great  cheer- 
ing and  waving  of  flags  and  handkerchiefs  by  the  chorus  and  the  audience.) 
And  I  shall  go  to  France  probably  for  two  or  three  weeks,  and  see  something 
of  the  Juniors  in  sunny  France.  What  will  you  say  to  them  ?  (Great  cheering 
and  waving  of  fln<:;s  and  handkerchiefs  by  the  chorus  and  audience.)  And  then 
to  Old  England,  dear  Old  England,  Mother  England,  as  we  all  love  to  call  her 
just  as  much  as  Mr.  Morgan  or  Mr.  Towers  or  any  of  the  English  friends  who 
are  here.  I  shall  go  to  Great  I5ritain  before  the  end  of  the  year  probably,  and 
what  message  will  you  send  to  the  Juniors  of  dear  Old  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland  t  (Great  cheering  and  waving  of  flags  and  handkerchiefs  by  the  chorus 
and  the  audience.)  That  is  the  best  of  all.  And  then  before  the  year  is  over  I 
expect  to  go  to  India  and  see  a  great  many  of  the  dusky  Juniors.  Do  you  send 
a  cheer  for  them,  too  ?    (Cheering  and  waving  of  flags  and  handkerchiefs  by  the 


Fifteenth  lutcrfiational  Convcntiun.  209 

chorus  and  audience.)  And  one  more  country  I  expect  to  visit,  and  that  is 
South  Africa, —  Cape  Town,  and  Port  Natal,  and  those  countries, — liave  you  a 
cheer  for  them  ?  ((ireat  cheering  and  waving  (jf  flags  and  handkerchiefs  by  the 
chorus  and  audience.)  I  thank  all  of  you  Juniors.  I  go  loaded  down  with  all 
these  messages  and  Ijlessed  greetings.  1  am  glad  to  take  them.  Just  a  minute 
longer.  'I'here  are  two  or  three  here  who  are  going  to  speak  about  fifty  words 
each,  and  I  know  you  will  all  be  glad  to  iiear  tliem.  They  are  from  far-off 
lands.  They  are  especially  connected  with  Junior  work,  every  one  of  them; 
and  first  I  will  present  the  Kev.  Fred.  C.  Kline,  formerly  of  Jaijan,  the  fir.st 
Methodist  Protestant  missionary  of  the  world  and  the  founder  of  the  first  Junior 
Society  in  Japan. 

Mk.  Klink:  Having  assi.sted  my  wife  to  organize  the  first  Junior  Society 
among  the  Japanese,  about  five  years  ago,  I  bring  you  most  heartily  tlieir  cor- 
dial greetings.  They  hail  you  in  Christ's  name,  and  they  wish  for  you  every 
earthly  good.  They  pray  the  Master  to  abide  in  your  hearts  unto  the  enrich- 
ment of  you  in  all  spiritual  forces  and  agencies,  that  you  may  become  mighty 
in  the  Word  of  God,  successful  in  leading  others  to  Christ,  and  to  exalt  his 
name  supreme  among  the  nations.     Christian  Endeavor,  live  forever  ! 

Prksiuknt  Clark:  And  another,  Miss  Anna  V.  Webb,  of  Spain,  who 
formed  the  Junior  Society  three  years  ago  in  San  Sebastian,  Spain. 

A  letter  from  Miss  Webb  was  read :  — 

Dear  friends,  as  one  of  our  number  is  going  to  the  great  Convention  we  had 
thouglit  to  send  you  this  letter,  and  we  are  so  glad  to  do  so.  We  are  very  happy 
because  we  can  be  members  of  the  Junior  Endeavor  .Society,  and  now  we  wish 
that  n(jt  only  was  there  one  Junior  .Society,  but  many,  anfl  we  ask  (iod  that  he 
will  estaljlish  and  create  a  great  many  more,  both  of  Young  People's  and 
Junior  Societies.  Our  .Society  now  bids  to  you  good-l)ye,  and  sends  you  all  our 
love  and  the  praise  of  a  hymn  that  we  all  know  in  England  :  — 

"Jesus  loves  me;  this  1  know, 
For  the  Hible  tells  me  so  ; 
The  little  ones  to  him  belong; 
They  are  weak,  but  he  is  strong.'' 

President  Clark  :  Just  one  more;  and  any  one  who  goes  out  will  mi.ss 
something,  I  assure  you,  for  the  last  one  who  brings  greetings  is  from  far-off 
China,  from  .Shanghai, — Miss  Mary  Posey,  from  the  Southgate  Presbyterian 
mission  in  .Shanghai,  where  are  some  of  the  noljlest  Juniors  in  all  the  world. 
Miss  Posky  :  With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude  to  (Jod, and  prompted 
by  loyalty  and  devotion  to  you,  our  flear  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Clark,  for  coming 
into  our  midst  a  few  years  ago,  when  fiod  sent  you  to  us,  we,  the  superin- 
tendents and  teachers  and  members  of  our  Junior  band  in  Southgate,  Shanghai, 
China,  extend  to  you  most  cordial  greetings,  and  may  Gorl  bless  you  and  the 
noble  work  of  the  Y.  P.  .S.  C.  V^.  We  want  this  banner  (presenting  beautiful 
silk  banner)  to  speak  a  message  of  love  to  our  Juniors  and  to  those  interested  in 
Juniors,  in  Junior  work,  especially  to  those  who  have  been  so  much  to  us  in  help 
and  prayer.  We  want  it  to  speak  a  message  of  joy,  and  tell  you  how  it  is  for 
us  who  are  engaged  in  the  blessed  service  of  bringing  the  Gospel  to  those  who 
know  it  not  in  heathen  lands.  We  want  it  to  be  a  mute  appeal  to  you  to  do  more 
ancl  diffuse  the  blessed  (Gospel  among  races  in  other  parts  of  the  earth.  Many  of 
our  dear  Juniors  a  few  years  ago  had  no  light  of  the  world  to  guide  them.  Now 
they  rejoice  in  the  same  Saviour  that  you  and  I  do  to-day.  I  want  to  call  your 
attention  to  this  little  Chinese  girl  (referring  to  a  representation  of  a  Chinese 
girl  on  the  banner)  with  large  feet,  with  natural  feet,  the  kind  that  God  made  for 
her  in  the  first  place.  She  is  pointing  there  to  her  flag.  You  see  the  cross  of 
Christ  has  obliterated  the  dragon.  Now  these  dear  children  here  to-day 
should  welcome  this  glorious  thing,  for  the  dawn  of  this  light  is  just  breaking 
in  this  far-off  land. 

President  Clark:  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  to  accept  this  beautiful  ban- 
ner, .so  beautifully  presented  by  Miss  Posey.     I  can  assure  her  and  the  Juniors 


270  Official  Report  of  the 

of  Shanghai  that  we  will  prize  it  among  our  dearest  treasures,  and  that  we  shall 
keep  it  not  only  as  individuals,  but  as  representatives,  if  we  may,  of  you,  and 
we  will  keep  it  safely  for  you;  but  the  Junior  member  of  my  family  is  Mrs. 
Clark,  and  1  want  to  hand  it  over  to  her,  to  give  it  in  her  safe-keeping,  and  then 
I  will  know  that  it  is  all  right. 

Mrs.  Clark,  in  response  to  calls  for  a  speech,  said  :  — 

I  remember  three  or  four  years  ago  in  Shanghai  taking  a  wheelbarrow  ride 
with  the  lady  who  has  just  brought  this  banner,  and  as  my  education  in  wheel- 
barrow riding  had  been  somewhat  neglected,  and  as  the  Chinese  wheelbarrow 
is  often  more  complicated  than  an  American  one,  I  distinguished  myself  by 
falling  off ;  but  when  we  arrived  at  our  destination,  and  I  saw  those  little  Chinese 
boys  who  sent  this  banner,  my  heart  was  touched,  and  I  am  sure  if  you  could 
see  those  boys  you  would  all  want  to  send  not  only  your  greetings,  but  your 
prayers  and  your  sympathies  to  the  boys  and  girls  in  China.  I  thank  you  for 
my  share  in  this. 

Dr.  Stewart  :  And  now  we  are  about  to  close  this  meeting.  I  am  sure 
that  the  missionary  to  Iceland  who  described  heaven  as  a  very  warm  place  was 
right.  For  it  is  very  warm  here  and  it  is  very  heavenly ;  but  before  we  close  and 
have  the  benediction  we  will  listen  to  a  song  which  was  sung  in  the  early  part 
of  the  service,  and  for  which  numerous  requests  have  come  from  the  audience. 

The  chorus  repeated  the  hymn,  "  Who  Will  Follow  Jesus  ? " 
After  benediction,  at  11.30,  the  meeting  adjourned. 

Tent  Washington. 

No  gospel  gathering  is  so  thrilling  as  one  that  brings  together  large 
bodies  of  men  grandly  in  earnest  for  Christ.  Is  that  because  of  the  sad 
rareness  of  the  sight .-'  At  any  rate,  the  masculine  regiments  that 
thronged  into  Tent  Washington  for  the  evangelistic  meeting  for  men 
only,  the  splendid  men's  choir  under  the  leadership  of  Mr,  P.  P.  Bil- 
horn,  that  gave  its  ringing  Gospel  invitations,  the  cries  of  "  Amen  !  "  and 
*'  Praise  God  ! "  and  "  Hallelujah  !  "  from  the  throats  of  enthusiastic  men, 
the  magnificent  singing  of  those  thousands  of  men,  the  strong  appeals 
of  the  manly  evangelists, —  men  every  inch  of  them, —  all  this  was 
glorious. 

The  songs  were  mainly  patriotic,  and  great  enthusiasm  was  mani- 
fested for  "America"  and  "God  Save  the  Queen."  Mr,  Bilhorn's 
sweet  songs,  too,  were  very  popular ;  but  one  of  the  features  of  the 
morning  was  Consul  Booth-Tucker's  little  Prussian  violinist,  with  his 
broken  phrases  and  his  singing  instrument.  Secretary  Baer  presided, 
and  introduced  the  general  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Washington,  Mr.  W.  N.  Multer,  to  lead  the  opening 
devotional  exercises. 

Mr.  Multer  called  on  the  men  to  sing  again  the  second  verse  of 
"  America,"  and  then  to  give  the  Gospel  hymn,  "  Come,  Thou  Almighty 
King,"  to  the  same  tune.  This  was  done  with  fervor,  and  after  an 
alternate  reading  of  selections  of  the  Psalms,  Mr.  Multer  led  in  prayer. 

"  Throw  Out  the  Life-Line  "  was  next  sung,  under  the  leadership  of 
Mr.  Bilhorn,  who  tried  his  favorite  plan  of  raising  the  key  half  a 
note  at  each  succeeding  verse.  This  kept  the  voices  going  higher  and 
higher,  until  they  rang  forth  with  a  power  that  was  unsuspected  at  first. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  271 

Secretary  Baer  then  introduced  the  first  speaker  of  the  morning,  Mr. 
C.  N.  Hunt,  of  Minneapolis,  president  of  the  Minnesota  Christian 
Endeavor  Union,  a  lawyer  who  has  abandoned  his  profession  to  work 
for  Christ. 

Address  of  Mr.  C.  N.  Hunt,  of  ninneapolis,  Minn. 

Heb.  ii.  3,  "  How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  a  salvation  ?"  and  there 
is  no  answer  to  the  question.  If  there  had  been  God  would  have  put  it  in  his 
Book.  It  is  asking  the  question,  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the 
whole  wodd  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  There  is  no  profit.  It  is  only  loss,  loss, 
eternal  loss.  I  want  to  bring  to  your  attention  two  or  three  verses  of  the  Book, 
—  for  I  am  going  to  stick  pretty  close  to  the  Book,  that  is  all  I  have, —  one  of 
which  is  in  John  xii.  32,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me." 

I  am  glad  to  say  to-day  what  you  already  know :  that  what  we  most  want  to 
think  about  here,  in  a  meeting  of  men,  is  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  man.  I  am 
also  glad  to  say  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  young  man.  Jesus  Christ  died  for 
men.  Jesus  Christ  lives  for  men.  Jesus  Christ  lives  in  men.  Jesus  Christ  to- 
day works  through  men.  The  invisible  Christ  in  the  world  to-day  is  in  men, 
dwelling  and  abiding  there  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Now  turn  again  to  the  third  chapter  of  John,  and  I  read  these  words:  "Ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  again  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  .  .  .  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born  of  the  Spirit  he  can  not  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  of  flesh;  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  Spirit." 

Here  is  the  entrance  into  this  Christ  life.  Men  have  long  been  seeking  to 
live  a  true  life,  an  abundant  life,  but  it  is  only  found  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  said, 
"  I  am  the  door:  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved,  and  shall  go  in 
and  out,  and  find  pasture.  ...  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 
Jesus  Christ  came  not  to  take  away  from  men  honor  or  reputation,  ability  or 
power.  He  came  to  give  men  honor,  reputation,  ability,  and  power.  I  may 
be  mistaken;  I  have  been  in  political  life,  I  have  been  in  legal  life,  ten  years; 
I  have  met  men  along  the  plane  which  men  of  business  and  professional  men 
walk — I  say  I  may  be  mistaken,  but  if  I  can  see  aright  the  future  I  believe 
to-day  that  the  shortest  cut  to  any  place  of  position  and  power  in  this  govern- 
ment, nation,  or  state  is  by  upholding  boldly,  manfully,  everywhere  the  princi- 
ples of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  heard  a  woman  say  from  this  platform  the  other  day  just  what  I  wanted  to 
say,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  it,  taking  it  from  a  woman's  lips.  She  said,  speaking 
geometrically,  that  "the  shortest  cut  between  earth  and  heaven  is  a  religious 
life."  But  I  believe  something  that  has  not  gotten  into  the  hearts  of  men:  that 
the  shortest  cut  between  the  lowliest  place  on  God's  green  earth  or  under  his 
blue  sky,  not  only  between  earth  and  heaven,  but  between  such  lowly  place  and 
the  White  House  on  the  hill  yonder,  is  a  righteous  life. 

The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  not  only  to  become,  but  they  are  becoming 
now,  and  will  continue  to  become,  the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord  and  Christ.  And 
so  I  am  glad  to-day  to  uphold  to  you  this  great  salvation.  I  can  not  tell  you 
what  it  has  done  for  me.  I  can  not  tell  you  where  it  has  lifted  me  from,  or  to 
vv^at  point  it  has  lifted  me.  I  can  tell  you  this :  that  when  God's  Word  entered 
my  heart  —  there  it  is  (holding  up  the  Bible)  — ■  then  it  was  my  blinded  eyes  were 
opened;  then  it  was  I  had  a  vision,  not  only  of  heaven  above,  but  of  heaven 
here  below.  I  believe  what  John  saw  on  the  hill  of  Patmos  is  not  very  far 
away:  "And  I  John  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a 
great  voice  out  of  heaven  saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men." 
Is  with  man  —  not  with  angels,  but  with  man.  I  am  glad  to  say  it,  because  I 
find  everywhere,  as  I  go  about  over  the  land  preaching  this  blessed  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  men  say,  "  You  are  visionary ;  you  are  up  in  the  sky."  Down  our 
way  preachers  are  often  spoken  of  among  some  people  as  "sky  pilots." 


272  Official  Report  of  the 

Now  there  are  a  great  many  places  in  this  earth  not  very  far  from  where  we 
are  standing,  in  this  beautiful  white  city  of  America,  that  are  very,  very  black. 
If  there  are  any  great  lights  in  this  Convention,  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  Con- 
vention anywhere,  oh,  I  tell  you  there  are  plenty  of  places  for  them  this  side  of 
heaven  !  1  do  not  much  believe  they  will  get  into  heaven  hereafter  unless  they 
get  into  heaven  right  here  now. 

That  is  why  I  think  it  is  a  great  salvation.  It  is  a  great  salvation  because  it 
saves  a  man.  Now  I  am  going  to  say  what  some  of  you  may  not  agree  with, 
but  I  have  found  it  to  be  true,  and  so  I  am  going  to  say  it.  It  saves  man 
from  himself.  If  I  were  to  spell  devil  I  would  spell  it  with  four  letters,  s-e-l-f. 
I  do  not  know  how  you  may  be.  I  heard  a  brother  who  was  being  examined 
the  other  day  say  he  did  not  believe  in  a  personal  devil.  I  do,  and  I  don't 
know  anything  about  theology  either,  and  1  don't  know  very  much  about  heaven, 
and  I  don't  know  and  don't  want  to  know  very  much  about  hell.  But  I 
do  know  if  I  could  get  rid  of  self  and  of  selfishness  that  heaven  would  become 
very  much  a  part  of  me  and  my  home,  of  my  daily  life,  of  my  mingling  with 
my  fellows,  of  my  social  and  of  my  municipal  life,  and  of  my  life  as  connected 
with  this  great  government. 

And  so  we  are  saved  from  ourselves.  I  am  not  going  to  speak  very  much  of 
the  greatness  of  this  salvation  as  it  pertains  to  heaven,  because  I  would  not 
speak  of  that  of  which  I  do  not  know  ;  but  all  I  say  as  I  go  about  among  men 
and  see  men  who  are  giving  all  their  time  and  talent  to  the  tilings  that  fade  and 
perish,  is  "  Oh,  to  get  a  vision  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  righteousness,  and  his 
power,  and  kingliness,  and  his  manliness,  then  these  lesser  things  will  fade 
away ! " 

Jesus  Christ  is  here  now  in  this  place  as  the  Saviour  of  men.  How  may  a 
young  man  cleanse  his  ways .?  The  great  Psalmist  said,  "  By  taking  heed  there- 
to." We  have  gotten  too  far  away  from  the  Word  of  God.  This  greatness  of 
salvation  in  Jesus  Christ  is  going  to  take  us  right  back  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
Word  of  God.  I  tell  you  we  need  it  everywhere.  You  tell  me  that  the  principles 
of  this  book  are  not  practical  in  politics  ?  I  tell  you  that  they  are,  and  the  poli- 
ticians, not  only  of  this  fair  city,  or  that  congregate  here,  but  of  all  the  fair 
cities  of  this  fair  earth,  are,  within  the  next  ten  years, — and  I  am  not  a 
prophet,  or  a  son  of  a  prophet, —  going  to  recognize  the  fact.  But  that  salva- 
tion must  come  in  you,  and  through  you.  Jesus  Christ  saves  cities,  he  saves 
nations,  he  saves  states,  he  saves  societies,  he  saves  homes,  only  as  he  saves 
the  individuals.     You  can  never  get  away  from  that. 

There  is  only  oneway  I  can  read  logically  or  legally  in  this  book,  whereby 
Jesus  Christ  can  save  men;  it  is  by  saving  man.  That  is  how.  And  you,  and 
you,  and  every  brother  on  this  earth  can  only  be  saved  in  that  way,  for  we  are 
all  brothers  in  Jesus  Christ,  thank  God.  Paupers  may  be  fit  for  princes,  and 
princes  may  be  fit  for  something  less,  —they  very  often  are,  are  n't  they  .?— but 
Jesus  Christ  knew  not  only  what  was  in  men,  but  what  man  might  become  as 
the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  entered  his  soul  ;  and  so,  I  say,  Jesus  Christ  saved  men 
as  the  seed  of  this  book  commenced  to  find  a  lodging-place  in  their  hearts.  I 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  know  anything  about  theology  to  be  truly  religious. 
I  know  nothing  about  theology.  Men  become  very  prosperous  farmers  without 
knowing  anything  about  agriculture,  in  a  technical  way  ;  men  become  lovers 
of  flowers,  and  cultivate  them,  without  knowing  much  about  the  science  of 
botany ;  men  become  successful  politicians  without  knowing  anything  about 
political  economy.  And  so  I  believe  that  the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
from  the  Word  of  God  itself,  must  find  a  lodgment  in  your  souls,  and  that  it  is 
something  to  save  you.  It  is  not  going  to  be  a  process  immediate.  I  am  not 
going  to  live  for  selfishness  and  sin  here,  and  then,  when  I  die,  because  I  have 
sung  songs,  be  transported  to  heaven  ;  nor  will  I,  because  I  have  neglected  some 
theological  doctrine,  or  plan,  be  sent  to  the  lowest  hell.  But  if  I  refuse  Jesus 
Christ,  the  great  light  of  the  world,  if  I  refuse  to  let  him  into  my  life,  seeing  his 
wonderful  light  among  men  ;  if  I  refuse  to  let  that  power  have  control  over  me, 
what  then  ?  Have  1  not,  deliberately,  chosen  the  darkness,  and  has  not  God 
made  me   a  free  moral   agent,  to  choose  the  light  or  not  to  choose  it.?    Jesus 


FiftcentJi  International  Convention.  273 

Christ  did  not  come  to  condemn  ;  he  came  to  save  the  world.  And  you  have 
the  proud  position  of  being  one  of  his  lieutenants,  one  of  his  captains,  in  this 
great  salvation  work , — every  man  here,  and  every  man  you  may  come  in  con- 
tact with.  I  think  we  all  want  to  be  saviours  of  men.  I  am  thankful  to  do  any- 
thing for  this  great  salvation. 

In  '32,  it  is  said,  one  wandered  by  the  shores  of  Galilee.  He  looked  at 
the  footprints  of  the  Christ  on  those  shores.  He  saw  what  he  had  done,  what 
he  was  doing,  and  then  it  was  that  he  said,  rising  out  of  his  darkness  and  unbe- 
lief, these  wonderful  words  that  may  bring  light  into  many  a  soul  to-day  :  "  If 
Jesus  Christ  be  a  man  and  only  a  man,  I  say  of  all  mankind  I  will  cleave  to 
him,  to  him  will  I  cleave  alway.  If  Jesus  Christ  be  a  God  and  the  only  God,  I 
swear  I  will  follow  him  through  heaven  and  hell  and  earth  and  sea  and  air." 
And  so  will  I ;  and  any  man  who  will  may  not  only  be  saved,  but  better  than 
that  —  according  to  the  motto  of  yesterday,  starting  from  the  place  where  he 
lives,  he  may  be  a  saviour  of  men.  That  is  the  greatest  business  God  ever 
called  any  man  to,  for  he  gave  it  to  his  only  begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ. 

Mr.  Baer:  First  and  last  there  are  many  amusing  things  that  come  to  a 
convention.  President  Clark  received  a  letter,  I  think  since  his  arrival  in 
Washington,  urging  this  great  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  to  take  steps  at 
once  to  kill  the  two  Salvation  Armies  in  this  country,  the  American  Volunteers 
and  the  Salvation  Army.  The  writer  said  that  the  mission  of  the  Christian 
Endeavor  was  to  kill  them.  Well,  I  am  very  sorry  indeed  that  the  writer  takes 
a  different  platform  and  view  from  what  I  think  you  do.  I  regret  that  Mr. 
Ballington  Booth  was  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  to  be  present  with  us  here 
in  Washington,  but  I  am  glad  to  say  to  you  that  the  commander  of  the  Ameri- 
can forces  of  this  great  world-wide  Salvation  Army  is  with  us.  The  Salvation 
Army,  like  Christian  Endeavor,  has  gone  around  this  wide  world  saving  souls 
for  Jesus  Christ.  In  America  it  is  America  for  Jesus  Christ.  I  am  glad  to 
introduce  the  new  commander,  who  recently  came  to  us  from  India,  Commander 
Booth-Tucker. 

Address  of  Commander  F.  De  L.  Booth-Tucker,  New  York  City. 

Mr.  Baer  and  Friends  .•  —  I  am  sure  the  warmth  and  heartiness  and  spontane- 
ousness  of  your  reception  will  do  what  Mr.  Baer  stated  some  one  has  suggested 
—  it  will  kill  me.  I  think  if  Mr.  Ballington  Booth  had  been  here  it  would  have 
killed  him  also,  and  then  you  could  have  put  us  both  in  a  grave  together.  And 
I  am  sure  there  is  enough  fire  and  fervor  in  this  meeting,  and  enough  faith  in  it, 
to  have  had  a  resurrection.     That  would  have  been  the  best  of  all. 

I  accepted  this  invitation  with  great  hesitancy  because  I  felt  that  at  the 
present  time  I  have  come  to  America  very  much  in  the  position  of  a  learner. 
However,  I  am  an  American  citizen,  and  am  proud  to  be  one.  My  ancestors 
have  been  American  citizens,  so  I  am  only  following  in  their  footsteps.  Yet,  I 
feel  that  I  come  on  this  occasion  as  a  learner,  because  1  have  spent  twenty  of 
the  best  years  of  my  life  as  a  missionary  in  India.  I  feel  I  have  all  my  experi- 
ence to  gain,  and  I  come  in  the  position  of  a  baby  American  citizen.  But  some- 
how or  other  the  baby  is  always  an  interesting  member  of  the  family.  I  belong 
to  the  family,  and  I  shall  realize  after  this  meeting  more  than  ever  that  I  am  a 
real  member  of  the  family,  and  have  been  accepted  as  such.  Even  if  the  baby 
coos  it  is  interesting;  if  the  baby  caterwauls, it  is  almost  as  interesting.  Some- 
body must  run  for  the  bottle,  and  if  the  bottle  is  not  at  hand  they  must  get  the 
comforter,  and  there  must  be  something  done.  I  feel  proud  of  this  oppor- 
tunity, but,  as  I  say,  I  feel  unequal  to  it.  I  suppose,  however,  even  in  the  posi- 
tion of  a  learner,  the  pupil-teacher  going  on  with  his  learning  may  at  the  same 
time  say  a  few  words. 

I  feel  there  are  classes  of  Christian  Endeavorers  for  whom  it  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  say  a  word  here  to-day,  but  perhaps  there  are  some  others  who  may 
be  somewhat  in  the  same  position  that  I  am ;  that  whereas  they  may  have  been 
American  citizens  a  long  time,  perhaps  they  have  not  been  followers  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  a  long  time,  and  perhaps  their  Christian  endeavors  have  been  of  a 


274  Official  Report  of  the 

limited  character  and  were  not  commenced  a  very  long  time  ago.  Well,  I 
would  like  to  stand  before  you  to-day  and  say  there  is  encouragement  for  every 
one  of  us.  As  I  came  here  to-day  I  thought,  Supposing  I  were  to  go  around  and 
ask  all  the  Christian  Endeavorers  here  in  Washington  what  they  would  like  me 
to  speak  about  from  my  own  little  bit  of  personal  experience  of  Salvation  war- 
fare—  what  they  would  like  me  to  mention.  It  came  to  my  mind  that  the 
problem  was,  Who  are  we  to  Christian  Endeavor  in  the  way  in  which  the  one  life 
we  possess  shall  be  used  most  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls? 
How  are  we  to  do  it .?  How  are  we  to  Christian  Endeavor.?  I  feel  very  much 
afraid  to  go  on  and  give  any  ideas  of  my  own,  because  you  have  had  this  laid 
down  to  you  so  often  and  so  much  more  clearly  than  probably  I  would  be  able 
to  make  it  —  so  clearly  that  you  can  hardly  have  further  light  thrown  upon  the 
matter.  Yet,  as  a  representative  of  an  organization  which  has  made  a  special 
study  of  the  art  of  saving  souls,  which  has  made  that  its  special  object,  which 
has  been  created  for  that  purpose,  I  feel  that  I  may  say  something. 

We  now  have  on  an  average  some  250,000  kneeling  at  the  penitent  form  year  by 
year,  seeking  salvation  there.  Out  of  those  250,000,  from  the  lowest  calculation 
some  25,000  are  drunkards.  I  think  that  may  encourage  me  a  little,  not  for  my 
own  sake,  but  because  I  am  the  representative  of  that  Christian  Endeavor  work 
which  is  carried  on  by  the  Salvation  Army  throughout  the  world;  a  work  that 
has  its  representatives,  no  doubt,  in  this  city,  and  that  has  its  representatives, 
no  doubt,  by  many  thousands,  in  this  country,  that  has  a  representative  on  this 
very  platform,  who  was  formerly  a  Prussian  Cavalry  officer,  and  who  was 
reduced  to  the  lowest  depths  of  degradation  by  drink,  until  he  entered  one  of 
our  American  Salvation  Army  meetings  on  the  Bowery  of  New  York  as  an  ordi- 
nary bum,  dressed  in  rags  and  tatters.  He  was  sleeping  at  the  time  in  a  lum- 
ber-yard, and  came  and  knelt  at  the  penitent  form,  and  sought  salvation,  and 
found  it.  He  went  back  to  the  lumber-yard  every  night  and  slept  for  fourteen 
nights  until  he  got  his  first  job.  Now  you  see  him  on  the  platform,  and  he  is  a 
beautiful  sight  to  look  at.     I  would  like  you  to  have  a  look  at  him. 

Dr.  Nyce  came  forward  at  Mr.  Baer's  invitation,  and  said  :  — 

My  precious  friends,  this  is  one  of  the  greatest  honors  which  God  has  ever 
bestowed  upon  me,  that  he  has  called  me_  before  you  to  give  my  testimony  for 
his  glory  and  his  honor.  From  the  position  I  was  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  alone 
can  save.  I  know  that  his  blood  can  cleanse  and  save  even  a  drunkard  like  I 
was  once.  From  rags  and  tatters  I  came  to  Christ,  and  I  cried  out,  "Jesus, 
save  me,  or  I  perish,"  and  the  Lord  spoke  to  me ;  and  my  rags  fell  off  and  new 
clothes  were  put  upon  me,  and  he  gave  me  a  new  heart ;  and  to-day  I  am  proud 
that  I  am  a  follower  of  Christ  Jesus,  my  blessed  Master. 

Commander  Booth-Tuckek  :  Now,  I  tell  you,  I  have  come  to  the  country 
with  fear  and  trembling.  I  thought,  as  I  stepped  on  American  soil.  Now  I 
am  going  to  tread  the  soil  trod  by  the  saintly  Charles  G.  Finney,  who  has  had 
more  influence  upon  my  life,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  than  anybody  out- 
side the  Salvation  Army.  I  say,  I  came  to  this  country  of  great  religious  lead- 
ers with  fear  and  trembling;  but  I  turn  with  a  measure  of  comfort  and 
satisfaction  to  that  organization  which  has  been  made  up  of  little  people,  and  I 
think  that  is  perhaps  why  Mr.  Baer  picked  me  out, —  when  I  was  the  wrong 
person  for  him  to  pick  out,— why  he  invited  me  to  come  and  speak  on  behalf 
of  the  little  ones;  speak  a  word  to  the  little  ones;  and  I  might  say  to  you  who 
are  not  Talmages,  and  Cuylers,  and  Finneys,  and  who  are  not  the  great  leaders 
we  have  had  in  this  country,  that  there  is  a  chance  for  all  of  us;  that  Ciod 
Almighty  has  a  need  for  you  and  me,  and  I  will  rise  up  and  try  to  do  my  best. 

There  is  no  telling  what  we  can  do  until  we  rise  up  and  try  to  do  it.  I  was 
myself  one  of  the  most  bashful  young  men  that  ever  walked  the  face  of  the 
earth  ;  one  of  the  most  timid ;  one  of  those  who  possess  by  nature  very  little  natural 
courage.  Some  seem  to  have  courage  born  in  them.  I  liad  not.  What  cour- 
age I  have  has  come  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  through  his 
precious  blood.     I  was  one  of  his  cowardly  ones,  and  I  look  back  and  see  how 


Fifteenth  International  Convcjition.  275 

he  has  raised  me  up ;  and  so  I  say  there  is  not  an  old  man  nor  a  young  man 
here  whom  he  can  not  take  hold  of  and  whom  he  can  not  use. 

I  was  looking  at  those  wonderful  verses  the  other  day  in  the  good  Book 
where  a  description  is  given  of  Moses  and  the  burning  bush ;  how  he  stood  in 
the  desert  and  looked  on  that  marvelous  sight, —  the  bush  that  was  burning, 
yet  was  not  consumed.  While  he  was  looking  at  it  he  received  that  wonderful 
call  of  his  to  go  forth  to  the  salvation  of  Israel.  He  was  at  the  time  a  common 
shepherd;  he  was  in  hiding  somewhere  —  in  concealment,  in  such  circum- 
stances that  when  the  call  came  to  him  it  came  to  him  as  a  surprise  and  seemed  to 
him  an  impossibility.  I  think  I  can  see  him  pleading  with  the  Lord.  "The 
fact  of  the  matter  is,  I  have  a  family  and  a  business  here  demanding  my  pres- 
ence." I  can  see  him  arguing  the  matter  out  with  the  Lord,  and  saying  that  he 
would  have  to  take  care  of  those  poor  sheep.  It  seems  ridiculous  that  under 
such  circumstances  he  should  stop  to  argue  that  it  was  important  for  him  to 
give  his  attention  to  a  few  paltry  sheep,  but  yet  that  is  probably  what  he  did: 
and  he  probably  said  when  he  came  along  there  that  the  other  shepherds  had 
gotten  the  start  of  him,  and  that  after  he  had  begun  to  have  some  business  he 
ought  not  to  be  called  away ;  that  he  was  a  man  eighty  years  old,  and  that 
there  were  others  who  could  be  called.  Finally,  he  probably  said,  "  I  am  a 
stammerer;  I  am  not  an  eloquent  man.  Though  I  passed  my  examinations  in 
Egypt  with  credit,  and  graduated  yonder  and  passed  one  thing  and  another, 
yet  still,  as  a  speaker,  I  was  a  stammerer,  and  therefore  there  is  no  use  for  me 
to  go.  In  the  debating  societies  in  Egypt  they  used  to  make  fun  of  me.  I 
never  could  make  a  speech.  So  there  is  no  use  of  my  going.  There  are  others 
better  qualified  than  I  am." 

So  I  wonder  how  many  there  are  here  saying  in  the  same  way,  "  Send  whom 
thou  wilt,  but  send  not  me."  But  you  know  the  Lord  put  his  foot  on  every 
objection  ;  and  Moses  with  his  family,  and  Moses  with  his  business  to  be  left 
behind  him,  and  Moses  the  old  man  of  eighty,  and  Moses  the  stammerer  with- 
out ability,  without  courage,  was  selected  by  God  to  do  that  great  work  that  he 
did.     Moses  was  the  one  chosen  by  God. 

I  look  around  me  now  and  I  am  convinced  of  the  fact  that  there  are  plenty 
of  Moseses.  And  there  are  burning  bushes  for  you  to  look  at.  The  Christian 
Endeavor  is  a  big  bush  blazing  with  the  power  of  God,  and  though  it  blazes 
away  it  is  never  consumed.  The  Salvation  Army  is  a  big  burning  bush  which 
is  burning  away  and  yet  is  never  consumed.  And  (iod  speaks  to  us  through 
these  burning  bushes  and  says,  "  I  want  to  send  you  out  for  the  deliverance  of 
nations,  or  for  the  deliverance  of  drunkards,  for  the  deliverance  of  backsliders, 
and  I  want  you  to  rise  up  and  put  aside  your  excuses.  I  want  you  to  do  what 
Moses  did,  to  settle  the  question  on  the  spot  and  rise  up  and  say,  '  Here  am  I, 
send  me.'"  Realizing  your  weakness  and  realizing  your  unworthiness  for  the 
position,  yet  with  all  the  difficulties  to  overleap  you  will  surmount  those  difficul- 
ties by  the  grace  of  God,  and  say,  "  I  will  go  at  once,  and  I  will  seek  to  save 
that  which  is  lost."  And  mark  my  words;  the  weakest  of  you  will  become  the 
strongest,  and  the  most  narrow  the  most  wise,  because  the  mere  fact  of  your 
weakness  will  cast  you  more  utterly  on  God  Almighty  for  the  help  and  assist- 
ance which  he  is  ready  to  give. 

Now  I  want  you  to  make  this  meeting  a  settling-point  in  which  you  shall  go 
forth  anticipating  some  difficulties  to  meet  you.  I  want  you  to  make  up  your 
minds  that  this  shall  be  a  meeting  from  which  you  shall  go  forth  to  accomplish 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  something  great.  Persist  until  you  get  it;  seek  until  you 
find  it ;  knock  until  the  door  of  opportunity  is  open. 

I  remember  reading  about  the  great  General  Garibaldi — that  on  one  of  his 
campaigns  he  camped  one  night,  and  as  the  soldiers  were  sitting  in  their  tents 
a  woman  came  to  the  opening  of  the  General's  tent  crying,  and  he  had  her  brought 
in  to  him.  The  General  had  a  great  heart,  and  he  asked  her  what  was  the 
matter.  Was  she  in  need  of  money  .•'  If  so,  she  should  have  it;  he  would  help 
her.  She  said  no,  that  it  was  not  money  that  she  wanted,  but  that  she  had 
lost  a  little  lamb  ;  that  the  lamb  had  been  the  pet  of  the  household,  and  that 
she  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  not  seeing  it  again ;  that  she  had  searched 


276  Official  Report  of  the 

everywhere  without  success,  and  she  was  despairing  of  finding  her  pet. 
Garibaldi  turned  around  to  his  staff-officers,  his  generals,  and  majors,  and 
others,  and  he  said,  "  Gentlemen,  let  us  go  and  find  the  lamb  for  the  poor  wo- 
man." The  officers  looked  a  little  curiously  at  one  another  as  they  started  off 
with  their  sabers  dangling  and  clashing  at  their  heels.  They  went  out,  and 
after  a  time  had  elapsed,  one  after  another  came  back  to  the  camp  without  the 
lamb,  and  darkness  set  in.  But  Garibaldi  did  not  put  in  his  appearance;  he 
did  not  return  till  the  other  officers  had  gone  to  sleep  for  the  night.  When  the 
sentinel  in  the  morning  came  to  wake  up  the  General  he  found  him  sleeping 
soundly,  a  little  extra  tired,  and  he  had  to  shake  him  to  awaken  him.  "Gen- 
eral, it  is  time  to  be  marching  ;  "  and  as  the  sentinel  shook  him  he  noticed  that 
there  was  something  a  little  big  in  the  General's  overcoat,  and  upon  examining, 
there  was  the  little  lost  lamb.  He  had  searched  until  he  had  found;  and  not 
until  he  had  found  that  lamb  did  he  return  to  the  camp  and  seek  his  rest  that 
night. 

When  the  angel  of  death  comes,  when  the  sentinel  of  the  skies  comes  and 
lays  his  hand  on  you  and  tells  you  it  is  time  to  take  the  last  march  to  the  land 
beyond,  shall  he  find  the  lamb  in  your  bosom  }  Shall  he  find  you  have  sought 
until  you  have  found?  In  the  slums,  in  the  saloons,  in  the  highways  and 
hedges, —  you  will  find  your  lamb  if  you  will  but  search. 

The  example  of  the  Salvation  Army  stands  before  you  as  a  testimony  that 
God  will  use  the  weak  thing,  and  I  tell  you — •  and  with  this  I  will  sit  down  — 
I  once  made  up  a  little  jingle,  and  it  has  been  a  great  comfort  to  me  :  "  The  joy 
of  joys  is  the  joy  that  joys  in  the  joy  of  others."  There  is  no  joy  like  that  joy, 
—  the  joy  of  being  the  saviour  of  souls. 

When  I  was  in  India  there  was  an  officer  engaged  in  our  work  who  was  a 
High  Caste  Brahmin.  He  had  been  very  delicately  brought  up  as  a  boy  in  the 
city,  and  he  was  sent  out  to  do  work  where  the  food  was  poor  and  the  sur- 
roundings bad,  and  he  had  many  difficulties  to  contend  with.  He  went  forth  to 
his  work.  The  leader  over  him  was  a  delicate  young  girl,  a  solicitor's  daughter, 
who  had  left  a  home  of  luxury  to  go  out  and  labor  for  the  Lord.  She  was  very 
anxious  about  this  dear  officer.  She  wrote  him  a  letter  and  said,  "  I  know  it  is 
very  hard  for  you,  and  I  know  the  food  you  have  to  eat  is  bad,  and  the  people 
you  come  in  contact  with  hard  to  get  along  with  but  do  it  ifor  Jesus'  sake." 
And  he  replied,  "  Do  not  be  anxious  for  me;  the  Master's  blood  is  always  before 
my  eyes,  and  nothing  appears  difficult." 

I  would  write  those  words  upon  your  hearts.  I  would  give  you  that  as  the 
talisman  of  victory,  —  "The  Master's  blood  is  always  before  my  eyes,  and 
nothing  appears  difficult." 

Secretary  Baer  then  introduced  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D,D.,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

I  have  a  verse  of  Scripture  with  which  I  should  like  to  start  my  few  remarks, 
in  which  every  man  among  us  to-day  believes.  I  remember  making  this  same 
statement  at  the  beginning  of  an  address  in  a  Western  city,  and  a  man  sprang 
to  his  feet  and  said,  "That  is  untrue,  for  I  do  not  receive  a  single  word  of  the 
Scriptures."  Nevertheless,  if  there  should  be  a  man  in  such  an  unfortunate 
position  as  that  here,  I  say  again,  I  have  a  verse  of  Scripture  with  which  to 
start  my  remarks  in  which  every  man  believes,  even  though  he  turns  from  the 
Book. 

I  remember  at  another  meeting,  some  time  ago,  when  I  made  this  statement, 
a  man  came  to  me  after  the  meeting,  and  said,  "  That  is  not  true,  for  I  do  not 
believe  in  the  existence  of  God."  If  there  should  be  a  man  in  such  darkness  as 
that  here  this  morning,  still  I  repeat  that  statement.  My  verse  is  one  in  which 
we  can  all  unite  and  agree.  Hebrews  ix.  27,  "  And  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men 
once  to  die."  We  believe  that,  don't  we?  You  all  believe  that.  But  the  part 
of  the  verse  I  want  to  emphasize  is  what  follows :    "  But  after  this ;  "  "  But 


Fifteenth  hitcrnational  Convention.  ^11 

after  this;  "  -'But  after  this,  the  judgment."  "The  judgment!"  I  am  not 
concerned  about  it  myself,  for  I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour. 
I  have  his  own  word  for  it  that  I  shall  not  come  into  condemnation.  I  am  not 
concerned  about  it  myself,  for  I  have  the  words  of  the  great  Apostle  Paul  when 
he  said,  "There  is,  therefore,  now  no  condemnation  to  them  which  are  in  Christ 
Jesus."  But  my  heart  goes  out  to  the  man  in  bondage,  to  the  man  who  is  a 
slave  to  his  appetite  and  his  passion  ;  and  I  say  to  you  since  sitting  in  this  meet- 
ing this  morning  and  listening  to  the  powerful  appeals  of  the  brothers  that  have 
preceded  me,  I  never  in  all  my  life  have  had  such  a  longing  as  I  have  this 
moment  to  go  out  to  endeavor  to  turn  men  away  from  the  wrong  lives  they 
are  leading.  God  send  us  out  after  the  lost,  that  they  may  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come  ! 

I  will  tell  you  why  I  wanted  to  speak  on  this  subject.  First  of  all,  it  is  a 
very  personal  thing.  I  suppose  you  can  say  this  morning,  as  I  can  say,  that 
you  have  friends  in  this  world  that  would  die  for  you.  I  know  I  have  them.  I 
believe  I  know  people  in  this  world  for  whom  I  would  count  it  a  great  honor 
and  privilege  to  die.  I  believe  you  know  them.  But,  my  friends,  while  you 
have  people  who  would  die  for  you,  there  is  not  a  man  in  all  the  world  that  is 
human  that  could  ever  stand  for  you  at  the  judgment.     Personal!  Personal! 

I  was  on  my  way  from  New  York  City  the  other  day,  and  picking  up  one  of 
the  great  metropolitan  papers  I  read  the  story  of  an  old  Irish  woman  who  had 
been  doing  everything  in  her  power  to  save  her  boy  from  drink.  She  had 
washed  for  the  money  to  send  him  to  the  Keeley  Institute,  and  that  had  failed. 
The  conduct  of  the  boy  grew  from  bad  to  worse.  Finally  she  said,  "  I  think  I 
will  go  to  the  court  and  I  will  ask  his  honor,  the  judge,  to  commit  you,  and  if 
you  are  free  from  it  for  thirty  days,  possibly  I  can  help  you."  And  she  took  him 
to  the  court  and  told  the  stoiy  to  the  presiding  judge,  and  finally  the  time  came 
for  the  commitment.  He  was  standing  before  the  judge,  and  he  was  half 
through  with  the  commitment  when  the  old  Irish  mother  started  back,  stagger- 
ing down  the  aisle,  reaching  out  her  arms,  and  when  she  reached  the  judge's 
desk  she  said,  with  tears  rolling  down  her  cheeks,  "  O  your  honor,  I  can  't  do 
it.  He  is  my  only  boy,  and  my  heart  will  break  if  he  goes.  I  can  not,  I  can 
not."  And  she  fell  at  the  feet  of  her  boy  ;  and  when  the  officers  picked  her  up 
and  carried  her  out  for  medical  attention,  the  physician  said  it  was  too  late,  she 
had  died  of  a  broken  heart. 

My  mother  has  been  twenty-five  years  in  the  skies,  but  if  she  had  lived  until 
to-day  —  and  God  bless  her,  she  would  have  died  for  me  —  yet  she  never  could 
stand  for  me  at  the  judgment.     Personal !     Personal ! 

I  will  give  you  another  reason.  I  have  found  that  when  men  are  insensible 
to  the  plea  that  is  found  in  the  Word  of  God  sometimes  they  are  made  to 
stop  at  the  cry  of  this  word.  Hear  it !  Hear  it !  Judgment  I  Judgment !  Some- 
times a  man  hears  it  in  the  ticking  of  a  clock  at  midnight  as  he  lies  in  his  bed. 
Sometimes  he  hears  it  above  the  great  din  and  bustle  and  roar  of  the  city. 
Judgment !  Judgment !  And  you  know,  men,  I  believe  that  the  very  sound 
of  the  word  causes  many  a  man  to  stop  and  think  who,  without  it,  who,  but 
for  that  stopping  to  think,  would  have  gone  down  to  hell.  And  so  this  morn- 
ing I  sound  it  out. 

One  of  my  friends  was  conducting  a  series  of  meetings  in  the  Southern  cities. 
There  was  an  old  sheriff  who  was  well-nigh  persuaded  to  become  a  Christian. 
He  attended  the  meetings  from  day  to  day,  and  as  I  say,  he  was  almost  per- 
suaded; but  he  did  not  make  up  his  mind,  and  the  meeting  closed  without  the 
sheriff  becoming  a  Christian.  My  friend  returned  to  that  town  a  year  later 
and  he  met  a  man  who  said,  "  The  old  sheriff  is  just  about  ready  to  die,  and 
he  is  still  unsaved."  My  friend  went  into  the  room  and  sat  down  by  his  bed. 
He  held  his  thin  white  hand  in  his,  looked  into  his  dim  eyes,  and  then  said, 
"  Mr.  Sheriff,  the  doctor  says  your  end  has  almost  come,  that  you  are  about  to 
die."  When  he  said  "  die  "  the  old  sheriff's  hand  began  to  tremble  and  twitch 
and  his  eyes  to  flash.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  am  going  to  die,  and  I  tell  you,  sir, 
I  am  not  afraid."  They  say  the  old  sheriff  was  one  of  the  bravest  soldiers  in 
the  South  during  the  war,  a  man  who  had  faced  death  a  hundred  times,  who  had 


278  Official  Report  of  the 

marched  in  obedience  to  his  master's  command  again  and  again  up  to  the  can- 
non's mouth.  "  I  am  not  afraid,"  said  he.  My  friend  said  he  waited  for  a 
second  and  then  said,  "Well,  Mr.  Sheriff,  it  may  be  you  are  not  afraid,  but 
how  about  the  judgment;  are  you  ready  for  that.-"'  And  the  old  sheriff  drew 
away  his  hand,  closed  his  eyes,  and  great  tears  began  to  trickle  down  his  thin 
cheeks  as  he  replied,  "The  judgment,  the  judgment!  God  pity  me,  I  am  not 
ready,  I  am  not  ready." 

To-day  I  stand  with  this  old  Book  back  of  me  and  say  that  every  man  who 
dies  unforgiven  must  stand  face  to  face  with  the  God  against  whom  he  has 
sinned,  and  I  sound  out  the  note  oi  judgment  that  you  may  stop  and  think. 

But  that  is  not  all.  I  believe  that  the  very  thought  of  the  word  and  the  day 
makes  men  honest  and  true.  The  fact  is  most  men  out  of  Christ  are  not  honest 
about  spiritual  things.  You  know  that  as  well  as  I  do.  For  example,  a  man 
says  he  can  not  be  a  Christian  until  he  has  the  feeling.  That  is  dishonest.  No 
man  ever  had  the  feeling  of  a  lawyer  until  he  practised  law;  no  man  ever  had 
the  feeling  of  a  merchant  until  he  bought  and  sold  goods ;  and  no  man  can 
have  the  feeling  of  a  Christian  until  he  takes  a  stand  for  God.  But  many  men 
declare  that  they  can  not  be  Christians  because  there  are  hypocrites  in  the 
Church.  Of  course  I  believe  that;  I  know  that  there  are  hypocrites  in  the 
Church.  I  have  been  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  for  fourteen  years.  I  have  had 
four  churches  in  that  time,  and  I  have  had  hypocrites  in  every  one  of  them.  I 
believe  that.  I  never  shall  forget  one  church  that  I  had,  but  I  never  tell 
where  it  was  any  more.  I  once  made  a  mistake  and  gave  the  name  of  the  city 
and  had  to  make  so  many  explanations  and  apologies  on  account  of  that  mis- 
take that  now  I  simply  say  that  I  was  the  pastor  of  a  church  in  a  certain  city. 
There  was  a  man  who  had  a  seat  four  rows  from  the  front —  I  would  not  call 
him  a  gentleman,  but  a  man.  When  I  announced  my  text  he  always  began  to 
read  the  hymn-book;  and  when  he  got  tired  of  that  he  would  read  his  church 
paper  while  the  sermon  was  going  on  ;  and  when  that  failed  to  interest  him,  he 
would  bow  his  head  as  if  he  were  asleep.  That  was  his  Sunday  life.  We  had 
prayer  meeting  Friday  evenings,  and  this  same  man  would  stand  up  and  pray. 
I  wish  you  could  have  heard  him.  He  had  the  most  sanctimonious  way  of 
shutting  his  eyes  and  kind  of  rolling  them  upwards.  With  a  most  pious  voice 
he  would  pray.  Indeed,  he  looked  so  pious  that  one  might  almost  imagine 
wings  to  be  sprouting,  and  think  that  that  man  would  soon  depart  and  leave 
us;  and  I  might  say  that  many  times  in  the  depth  of  my  heart  I  wished  he 
might.  That  was  his  Friday  life.  Hypocrite!  Hypocrite!  Why,  I  dare  to 
say  that  I  believe  that  man  was  one  of  the  chiefest  of  all  hypocrites,  and  his 
name,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  was  on  the  roll  of  my  church.  Ah,  but  men,  five  seats 
back  of  him  there  sat  the  sweetest  Christian  woman  I  ever  knew.  I  never 
knew  her  to  utter  an  unkind  word  in  her  life;  I  never  knew  her  to  do  an  incon- 
sistent thing.  I  can  put  my  hands  over  my  eyes  now  and  hear  her  voice  as  it 
rose  above  the  singing  of  the  great  congregation.  I  turn  my  eyes  backward 
and  I  think  of  a  dear  woman  years  ago  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  who  was  the 
sweetest  Christian  mother  that  ever  God  gave  to  a  boy.  And  I  say  the  Church 
may  be  filled  with  hypocrites  and  yet  there  was  enough  sweetness  and  con- 
sistency in  the  life  of  my  mother  to  offset  it  all.  The  man  who  dares  to  say 
that  he  is  out  of  the  Church  because  of  the  hypocrites  in  it  is  untrue. 

Infidels  are  as  a  rule  untrue  —  not  always.  I  count  it  an  honor  to  know 
some  who  are  honest  infidels  and  honest  men.  Such  a  man  says,  "  I  can  not 
believe  what  you  believe,  but  you  go  on  according  to  your  own  way  of  thinking 
and  I  will  not  disturb  you."  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  no  sort  of  confidence  in 
the  man  who  sticks  his  thumbs  in  the  corners  of  his  vest,  and,  not  believing 
himself,  tries  to  sneer  me  out  of  my  hope  for  eternity. 

Then  again  we  meet  the  man  who  is  not  in  the  Church  because  he  says  it  is 
an  old-fashioned  religion  —  that  he  has  grown  away  from  it.  Has  Gladstone, 
the  greatest  mind,  possibly,  that  thinks  in  the  world  to-day  —  has  he  grown  away 
from  it? 

My  friend  the  Hon.  Wallace  Bruce  told  me  that  he  sat  one  day  under  the 
influence  of  the  splendid  oratory  of  Ingersoll.    He  heard  IngersoU  say,  "When 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  279 

I  think  of  the  Christians  and  their  Bible  and  their  God  I  am  thankful  I  am  not 
a  Christian."  "  And  then,"  said  Bruce,  "  he  gave  one  of  those  word-pictures 
that  fairly  set  people  wild  with  enthusiasm."  "  I  would  rather,"  said  Ingersoll, 
"  be  the  humblest  German  peasant  that  ever  lived,  sitting  in  his  vine-clad  cot- 
tage over  which  the  grapes  hang,  made  purple  by  the  kiss  of  the  setting  sun  as 
it  sinks  in  the  west,  at  peace  with  his  friends  and  surrounded  by  those  he  loves, 
shod  with  wooden  shoes,  clad  with  homespun,  without  thought  of  God  —  I 
would  rather  be  such  a  German  peasant  living  as  he  did  than  to  be  the  might- 
iest Christian  in  the  land."  "  And  I  tell  the  truth,"  said  Ingersoll.  And  when 
he  said  it,  men  sprang  to  their  feet  and  shouted  with  enthusiasm. 

Why,  men,  that  is  a  play  of  the  orator  on  words.  I  do  not  profess  to  be  an 
orator,  but  I  will  change  the  word  so  that  you  can  share  in  the  picture.  When 
I  think  of  all  that  infidelity  has  done,  nay,  of  all  that  it  has  failed  to  do,  I  am 
glad  that  I  am  not  an  unbeliever.  When  I  think  that  it  would  take  from  me 
the  hope  of  one  day  looking  into  the  face  of  my  mother  I  am  glad  that  I  am  not 
an  infidel.  When  I  think  it  would  reach  down  into  the  depths  of  my  heart  and 
take  from  me  the  thought  that  one  day  I  shall  see  my  child,  bone  of  my  bone, 
flesh  of  my  flesh,  I  thank  the  God  in  whom  I  believe  that  I  am  not  an  infidel. 
I  would  rather  be  the  humblest  German  peasant  that  ever  lived,  shod  with 
wooden  shoes,  clad  with  homespun,  sitting  in  my  vine-clad  cottage,  over  which 
the  grapes  hang,  made  purple  by  the  kiss  of  the  sun  as  the  day  dies  out  from  the 
skies,  at  peace  with  the  world,  at  peace  with  my  God,  my  family  about  me,  my 
open  Bible  on  my  knee,  and  singing  with  those  whose  voices  would  join  my  own 
that  wonderful  song  of  the  great  Martin  Luther,  "  A  Mighty  Fortress  Is  My 
God," —  I  would  rather  be  the  humblest  German  that  ever  lived  than  be  the 
mightiest  infidel  that  ever  trod  the  world — yes  I  would,  a  thousand,  thousand 
times.     Men,  what  do  you  say  .?    (Shouts  of  "Amen  ".) 

"  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  after  this  the  judgment."  -You  say  it 
(indicating).     You  say  it  (indicating). 

The  congregation  here  repeated  the  verse. 

"  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  the  judgment."  God 
save  us  all  from  it !     (Cries  of  "  Amen  ".) 

I  have  just  a  word  to  say  as  I  go  on  to  the  end.  It  is  a  place  where  a  man 
is  going  to  meet  his  conscience.  As  Sam  Jones  has  said,  "  Where  he  is  going 
to  meet  his  record."  The  colored  people  in  the  South  have  a  song  they  sing 
which  I  like.  It  is,  "  He  sees  all  we  do,  he  hears  all  we  say,  my  God  is  writing 
all  the  time."  It  is  a  place  where  a  man  is  going  to  meet  his  sin.  God  save 
him  from  it ! 

I  have  come  to  the  end  of  my  message.  I  beseech  every  one  of  you  here 
this  morning  to  lay  hold  of  Jesus  Christ.  Ah,  men,  you  are  going  to  need  him. 
You  will  need  him  when  trouble  comes,  when  death  is  upon  you,  when  tempta- 
tion rises  before  you  high  as  a  mountain.  But  you  will  need  him  most  of  all  at 
the  judgment. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  when  I  was  a  boy  in  Indiana,  one  morning  early  the 
nurse,  who  had  been  in  the  household  for  years,  knocked  at  the  door  of  us 
children.  She  called  out,  "  Boys,  boys,  if  you  would  see  your  mother  alive, 
come  quickly."  Although  it  is  twenty-five  years  ago,  it  seems  like  yester- 
day. I  was  the  oldest  boy.  I  jumped  up  from  bed  and  hurried  the  others  into 
their  clothing.  Hurry  though  we  did,  when  we  reached  the  door  of  the  room  that 
had  been  like  heaven  to  us  for  a  long  time, —  for  our  mother  had  been  suffering 
there  for  months,—  hurry  though  we  did,  the  same  nurse  met  us  at  the  door  and 
said,  "  Children,  she  has  gone  home."  If  ever  there  is  a  time  in  a  boy's  life  or 
a  man's  life  either,  for  that  matter,  when  he  feels  as  if  his  sun  had  been  blotted 
from  the  heavens,  it  is  when  he  hears  those  words,  "  She  has  gone  home."  My 
father  was  there,  and  we  crossed  the  threshold  and  knelt  down  where  he  was 
already  kneeling  by  the  bedside.  When  he  heard  us  there  he  lifted  up  his  face 
and  turned  to  us  and  said,  "  She  has  gone ;  but  thanks  be  unto  God,  her  Saviour 
is  still  here."  And  we  got  down  on  our  knees,  and  he  put  his  arms  about  every 
child  that  he  had  brought  into  the  world,  and  he  commended  us  there  to  the 
Saviour.     We  took  her  to  the  cemetery  there  in  Indiana  and  laid  her  to  rest 


280  Official  Report  of  the 

and  I  went  across  the  State  the  other  day  just  to  stand  at  her  grave.  If  I  could 
have  opened  the  casket  and  have  seen  what  was  left,  I  think  I  should  have 
said,  "  Is  this  all  ?  "  Listen  !  I  think  the  angels  would  have  said,  "  This  mortal 
has  put  on  immortality,  this  corruptible  has  put  on  that  which  is  incorruptible." 
And  I  think  I  could  shout  until  the  angeis  would  hear  me,  "  Thanks  be  unto 
God  who  giveth  me  the  victory  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

And  men,  you  will  need  him,  oh,  you  will  need  him !     What  is  the  word  1 

The  Congregation:  The  judgment! 

Dr.  Chapman:  What  is  it  again.? 

The  Congregation:  The  judgment! 

Dr.  Chapman  :  "  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  the  judg- 
ment." How  many  of  you  men  here  in  this  men's  service  this  morning  before 
God  and  under  the  touch  of  the  Holy  Ghost  will  dedicate  your  lives  from  this 
morning  to  do  something  for  men  ?  Who  will  promise  before  God  that  from  to- 
day you  will  make  an  honest  effort  to  live  a  clean  life  ?  Think  of  it,  men.  Who 
will  so  do  ?    (Cries  of  "  I  will.") 

Tent  Endeavor. 

The  canvas  of  Tent  Endeavor,  Saturday  morning,  framed  a  compo- 
site photograph  of  American  womanhood.  Within  its  vast  embrace 
there  were  gathered  several  thousand  representatives  of  the  "  gentle 
sex,"  and  the  few  men  present  in  the  shape  of  ushers  and  reporters 
only  served  to  accentuate  the  preponderance  of  femininity. 

Shortly  after  the  exercises  began  half  of  the  seats  in  the  tent  were 
occupied.  Long  before  the  addresses  commenced  there  were  few  va- 
cant places,  and  besides  a  fringe  of  just  as  attentive  listeners  were  all 
around  the  big  inclosure.  The  choir,  composed  of  hundreds  of  wo- 
men's voices,  sang  well.  In  the  great  semicircle  of  the  chorus  plat- 
form there  was  scarcely  a  place  unoccupied. 

The  regular  exercises  were  commenced  with  the  singing  of  "  Tell 
the  Glad  Story  Again,"  by  the  audience  and  the  choir,  which  had  by 
this  time  assembled,  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Frank  Byram,  of 
Washington.  This  was  followed  by  "  Anywhere,  My  Saviour,"  and 
several  other  hymns. 

Mrs.  John  Willis  Baer,  wife  of  the  secretary  of  the  United  Society, 
presided.     Mrs.  Francis  E.  Clark  conducted  the  devotional  services. 

Remarks  of  Mrs.  John  Willis  Baer,  Boston,  Mass. 

Dear  friends,  we  are  not  only  saved  by  Christ,  but  we  are  saved  for  some- 
thing—  we  are  saved  to  serve  Christ.  Let  us  in  our  meeting  this  morning  re- 
alize that  God  is  showering  blessings  upon  this  Convention.  Let  us  use  these 
blessings  to  elevate  our  spiritual  life,  to  elevate  our  hearts  and  minds,  so  that 
when  we  go  from  this  meeting  back  to  our  homes,  we  may  lead  more  consistent 
lives,  and  live  nearer  to  Christ.  For  that  reason  this  meeting  was  called;  let  it 
be  evangelistic  in  spirit.  Let  us  all  feel  that  there  is  something  for  each  one  of 
us  to  do.  Let  us  forget  for  the  time  this  great  crowd  of  people,  and  let  us  close 
our  eyes  to  this  throng  and  try  to  feel  that  we  are  in  a  small  room  together, 
sisters  in  Christ;  that  we  are  expected  to  do  something  for  him.  Let  us  open 
our  hearts  to  receive  the  blessing  which  he  is  so  ready  to  bestow. 

All  the  speakers  this  morning  are  ladies  who  have  been  wonderfully  blessed 
of  God  in  their  special  lines  of  work.  These  lines  of  work  they  will  not  pre- 
sent in  full  this  morning  in  any  way,  as  that  was  not  the  idea  of  this  meeting. 
It  is  purely  an  evangelistic  meeting,  and  they  will  bring  in  their  lines  of  work 
only  as  they  best  illustrate  their  efforts  for  Christ. 


Fifteenth  International  Co}ive?ition.  281 

The  first  speaker  of  the  morning  —  it  seems  specially  fitting  to  me — is  a  Wash- 
ington woman.  She  is  a  woman  who  has  been  called  to  a  grand  work,  the 
work  of  the  Florence  Crittenton  Missions  of  this  country.  We  all  know  of  the 
great  work  which  that  mission  has  accomplished.  Thirteen  years  ago  it  entered 
into  the  heart  of  a  very  noble  man  to  found  a  mission  in  New  York  City  in 
memory  of  a  beloved  daughter  whom  he  lost  at  that  time.  Would  that  there 
were  more  man  who  were  like  minded  !  This  man,  not  satisfied  with  founding 
only  one  mission,  has  followed  it  up;  until  now,  after  thirteen  years  of  existence, 
there  are  thirty-four  organized  missions  with  the  Florence  Crittenton  name. 

The  lady  who  is  with  us  this  morning  has  been  very  much  blessed  in  lier 
work  in  this  special  line.  As  superintendent  of  the  national  organization  of  the 
Florence  Crittenton  Mission  Mrs.  Kate  Waller  Barrett,  of  Washington,  will 
now  speak  to  you. 

Address  of  firs.  Kate  Waller  Barrett,  Washington,  D.  C. 

We,  as  an  American  people,  are  proud  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  blot  of 
slavery  has  been  wiped  from  our  escutcheon.  It  is  not  true.  There  is  a  slav- 
ery in  our  midst  to-day  that  knows  no  North  or  South,  no  Mason  and  Dixon 
line.  These  slaves  are  not  of  an  alien  race  ;  they  are  our  own  Anglo-Saxon 
daughters.  Knowing  as  a  Southern  woman  may  know  the  evils  of  slavery,  I 
unhesitatingly  say  that  in  any  aspect  the  slavery  of  which  I  speak  is  far  worse 
than  the  slavery  of  the  negro  was.  Immorality  was  one  of  the  worst  effects  of 
the  slavery  of  the  negro.  Here  are  a  race  of  slaves  kept  for  immoral  purposes 
alone.  The  negro  slave  was  a  chattel,  it  is  true,  but  he  was  a  valuable  chattel. 
His  preservation  and  well-being  meant  added  income  to  his  master;  but  the 
white  slave,  the  "slave  of  civilization,"  has  no  such  monetary  value  in  her  mas- 
ter's eyes.  Experience  and  proficiency  do  not  add  to  her  value ;  she  soon 
becomes  an  incumbrance,  and  the  insatiable  desire  for  variety  which  led  to  her 
acquirement  pleads  that  she  be  gotten  rid  of  as  quickly  as  possible,  so  that  her 
master  may  be  left  free  to  enslave  fresh  subjects.  The  swiftly  succeeding  steps 
of  the  brothel,  the  jail,  the  hospital,  and  the  potter's  field  she  is  quickly 
hurried  through. 

The  negro  slave  had  but  few  rights  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  but  he  had  some. 
The  white  slave  has  none.  The  State  of  Missouri  has  declared  by  a  decision  of 
its  Supreme  Court  that  the  general  character  for  unchastity  in  a  woman  im- 
peaches her  character  for  veracity  as  a  witness.  It  further  goes  on  to  state 
that  "such  character  in  a  man  does  not  in  like  manner  affect  his  character  for 
veracity."  So  far  as  I  know,  this  is  the  first  State  to  legally  declare  such  an 
attitude,  but  one  familiar  with  the  police  court  annals  has  had  ample  opportu- 
nity to  discover  that  there  is  an  unwritten  law  to  this  effect  everywhere.  Not 
only  is  her  character  for  veracity  impeached,  but  the  belief  seems  to  have 
gained  undisputed  ground  that  because  a  woman  has  lost  her  chastity,  or  her 
virtue,  as  the  common  expression  goes  she  has  lost  every  virtue. 

Often  the  slave  has  been  bought  and  paid  for  by  her  master.  If  not,  sne  is 
owned  body  and  soul  by  the  keeper  in  whose  house  she  lives.  A  great  moun- 
tain of  debt  has  been  piled  up  against  her,  her  trunk  has  been  "nailed  to  the 
floor,"  as  they  express  it,  to  show  the  impossibility  of  moving  it.  If  she  dares 
to  leave  under  these  circumstances  she  is  arrested  for  stealing,  for  even  the 
clothes  she  wears  do  not  belong  to  her.  Knowing  as  they  do  the  slim  chance 
for  justice  which  they  will  have  when  once  the  hand  of  the  law  is  laid  upon 
them,  they  dread  arrest  more  than  they  long  for  safety.  Intimidated  by  the 
iron  will  and  marble  heart  which  is  a  characteristic  of  the  keepers, —  for  as  low 
as  a  woman  sinks  when  she  lives  from  the  earnings  of  her  person,  she  who 
lives  upon  her  sister's  earnings  sinks  still  lower, —  knowing  no  law,  friendless 
and  hopeless,  is  it  any  wonder  that  when  once  brought,  snared,  or  coaxed  into 
this  slavery,  she  should  not  have  the  nerve  to  make  the  effort  to  free  herself? 
You  say,  Why  does  n't  she  run  away  ?  Perhaps  she  has  starved  as  a  virtuous  wo- 
man and  she  does  not  think  that  the  world  will  be  any  kinder  to  her  because 
she  has  lost  her  virtue.  Everybody  that  comes  in  contact  with  her  is  in  a  con- 
spiracy to  keep  her  where  she  is,  for  personal  reasons. 


282  Official  Report  of  the 

There  is  a  very  prevalent  opinion  that  women  are  harder  on  their  sinning 
sisters  than  men  are.  Even  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  takes  that  view  in  his  eloquent 
sermon  on  the  social  evil.  I  do  not  agree  to  this.  Women  are  not  responsible 
for  the  views  they  often  express.  They  are  like  the  chameleon ;  they  take 
their  color  from  any  object  to  which  they  cling.  Most  of  them  cling  to  some 
man,  and  so  it  is  his  sentiments  and  not  hers  that  she  often  voices  when  she 
condemns  our  compassionate,  our  unfortunate,  sister.  I  have  not  yet  seen  a 
woman  cast  a  stone  at  one  of  her  fallen  sisters  that  the  stone  was  not  slipped 
into  her  hand  by  a  man. 

The  illogical  ideas  and  methods  which  have  been  put  into  effect  from  time 
to  time  in  dealing  with  this  class  are  enough  to  excite  the  wonder  of  any  reason- 
ing person.  Segregation,  compulsory  examination,  attempting  to  elevate  it 
into  an  institution, — almost  every  one  of  them  has  had  as  its  object  to  sur- 
round this  evil  with  as  many  safeguards  as  possible,  to  make  it  safe  and 
pleasant  for  the  male  sinner;  to  put  upon  the  weaker  shoulders  all  the  burden 
and  disgrace.  But  the  talk  of  robbing  prostitution  of  its  material  evils;  the 
offering  up  upon  the  altar  of  a  false  hygiene  the  bodies  of  hundreds  of  women 
with  like  possibilities  as  ourselves  of  happy  life  and  glorious  immortality  !  The 
thought  is  appalling,  even  if  it  were  proven  to  do  all  for  the  human  body  that 
its  friends  claim  for  it.  What  gross  materialism  that  which  would  save  the 
body  and  do  nothing  whatever  for  the  soul.  The  worst  thing  about  prostitu- 
tion is  prostitution;  the  physical  diseases  which  inevitably  accompany  it  are  as 
nothing  compared  to  the  moral  disease  which  necessarily  follows  it.  It  is  not 
the  diseased  body  we  deplore  ;  it  is  the  diseased  mind,  the  prostituted  soul. 
This  body  of  ours,  care  for  it  as  we  may,  will  soon  lie  in  the  dust,  with  no  wor- 
shippers but  worms,  but  the  prostituted  soul  lives  on  through  eternity. 

When  I  contrast  the  just  and  equitable  laws  that  govern  the  relationship  of 
the  sexes  among  animals  with  the  social  laws  of  human  beings;  when  I  re- 
call the  thousands  of  girl-mothers  in  the  Florence  Crittenton  homes,  going 
through  the  trials  of  motherhood  without  any  strong  arm  to  protect  or  comfort 
them  ;  when  I  think  of  the  selfishness,  and  cruelty,  and  suffering  that  my  own 
sex  has  to  endure  in  the  unjust  relationship  of  the  sexes;  — if  I  thought  that  this 
was  God's  doings  I  would  be  an  infidel.  You  who  believe  that  it  is  so,  get 
down  upon  your  knees  and  pray  to  the  terrible  God  that  you  worship  that  he 
will  turn  back  the  wheels  of  progress  and  make  us  once  more  as  the  beasts  of 
the  field.  But  we  know  that  it  is  not  so.  He  who  is  "  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  forever"  said  to  her  taken  in  the  sin,  "  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee. 
Go,  and  sin  no  more."  He  declared  God's  attitude  to  be  hatred  for  the  sin,  but 
love  of  the  sinner. 

Secondly,  I  want  to  show  how  God  has  blessed  our  work  among  this  class, 
in  spite  of  the  difficulties  which  lie  in  its  way.  There  are  many  movements  on 
foot  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  these  poor  outcasts.  I  stand  here  as  a  representa- 
tive of  one  of  the  largest  of  these  movements,  the  National  Florence  Crittenton 
Mission,  that  has  as  its  object  the  regeneration  of  these  wandering  children  of 
God.  We  have  thirty-four  rescue  homes,  where  any  unfortunate  who  comes  to 
us  will  be  gladly  welcomed,  and  everything  done  to  help  her  back  into  the  paths 
of  rectitude.  Our  beloved  president,  Mr.  Charles  N.  Crittenton,  has  put  him- 
self into  God's  hands  to  carry  on  this  work,  and  every  year  a  princely  fortune 
is  spent  by  him  for  its  maintenance. 

Our  being  able  to  present  our  work  here  before  this  splendid  gathering  is  in 
direct  answer  to  prayer.  For  many  years  it  has  been  our  earnest  prayer  that 
this  magnificent  gathering  of  consecrated  young  womanhood  —  the  future  wives 
and  mothers  of  the  nation  —  should  open  their  ears  to  the  truth  upon  this  most 
important  subject.  I  have  attended  many  of  these  inspiring  gatherings,  and 
my  heart  has  gone  up  in  deepest  thanks  to  God  for  the  founders  and  officers  of 
this  Christian  Endeavor  movement.  1  have  listened,  as  one  after  the  other  has 
brought  in  the  report  of  the  sheaves  gathered;  but  I  have  felt  that  the  circle 
would  not  be  complete  until  this  neglected  corner  of  the  vineyard  had  been 
tilled.    Ah!    my  dear  friends,  you  who  have  put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  283 

and  gone  forth  in  this  warefare  against  sin,  can  you  find  a  more  necessary,  or  a 
more  promising,  or  more  Christlike  campaign  than  this? 

Many  of  these  for  whom  I  plead  are  guiltless  of  any  thought  of  wrong. 
Their  tender  years,  their  innocency,  their  gentle  disposition,  will  convince  you 
of  this.  True,  many  of  them  are  weak  ;  but  Isaiah  tells  us  we  must  "  strengthen 
the  weak  hands,"  and  again  we  are  told  that  "  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things 
of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  that  are  mighty."  Many  of  them  are  great 
sinners,  but  He  came  not  "to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners,  to  repentance." 
Our  faith  reaches  out  to  claim  the  promises  of  God,  that  "though  your  sins  be 
as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow."  We  believe  it  is  as  easy  for  him  to 
save  a  Magdalene  as  it  was  to  save  the  beloved  disciple,  and  that  when  she  is 
saved  she  is  just  as  thoroughly  saved.  He  who  knows  the  secrets  of  all  hearts 
knew  that  a  redeemed  woman  could  be  trusted,  and  he  sent  Mary  Magdalene 
forth  to  his  disciples  to  testify  to  the  great  fact  of  the  resurrection.  To  the  power 
of  this  fact  we  owe  it  that  we  to-day  have  our  Mary  Magdalenes  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life,  and  in  every  city  almost,  testifying  to  a  risen  Saviour,  who  is  able 
to  save  and  to  keep. 

The  time  is  short  to  do  this  great  work  in.  The  average  life  of  an  aban- 
doned woman,  according  to  the  statistics  in  Europe,  where  they  are  registered, 
is  only  five  years.  We  must  be  up  and  doing.  "  Work  while  it  is  called  to-day, 
for  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work." 

The  next  speaker  introduced  was  very  early  called  to  Christian 
service  in  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union. 

Address  of  Miss  Belle  Kearney,  Flora,  Miss. 

Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  the  influence  of  women  been  felt  so 
strongly  as  now  upon  all  great  questions  that  affect  the  human  race.  She  has 
attained  for  herself  a  position  that  shall  not  be  taken  away  from  her,  in  law,  in 
society,  in  religion,  in  politics.  Above  all,  as  a  leader  of  philanthropic  move- 
ments she  stands  pre-eminent. 

A  presiding  elder  of  the  Louisiana  Methodist  Conference  in  a  letter  written  for 
his  church  paper  sometime  since  took  occasion  to  say,  "  These  W.  C.  T.  U. 
women  want  the  earth,  the  smaller  stars,  and  the  nebulae."  As  the  boys 
say,  we  do  not  deny  the  allegation,  nor  do  we  defy  the  alligator.  Our  brother 
was  exactly  right.  We  do  want  the  earth  for  Christ,  and  all  the  smaller  stars, 
if  they  are  inhabited  by  sin-sick  souls,  such  as  those  in  this  world;  and  we 
would  like  to  brighten  the  nebulas,  if  the  haze  is  as  cloudy  as  some  people's 
perception  and  as  dense  as  their  prejudices. 

This  has  been  essentially  a  woman's  century.  Thank  God,  the  next  century 
will  be  humanity's. 

As  is  well  known,  the  civilization  of  all  lands  depends  upon  the  position  that 
women  occupy.  Look  at  China,  where  superfluity  of  girl  babies  are  put  to 
death  and  where  woman  is  regarded  as  very  little  better  than  the  lower  ani- 
mals. Look  at  India,  where  children  are  wedded  almost  at  their  birth,  and  if 
the  husband  dies  the  child  wife  has  to  go  perpetually  unmarried  and  wear  the 
sables  of  mourning  and  disgrace.  Look  at  Turkey,  where  women  are  shut  up 
in  harems  and  live  only  to  serve  their  lords  and  masters,  going  through  life 
veiled  and  dishonored.  Look  at  Corea,  where  women  are  regarded  as  of  such 
little  importance  that  they  are  not  allowed  to  look  out  of  a  window  without  the 
consent  of  their  husbands,  and  when  their  children  are  caressed  by  one  of  the 
opposite  sex,  they  are  regarded  as  forever  contaminated,  and  the  only  expia- 
tion they  can  make  to  their  parents  is  to  commit  suicide,  which  they  do 
continually. 

In  comparison  to  the  women  of  the  East,  look  at  the  English-speaking 
nations  of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  —  at  Great  Britain,  for  instance,  where 
women  are  given  the  highest  education,  and  where  they  are  allowed  to  exercise 
the  elective  franchise  for  all  offices,  except  Parliament;  where  they  go  into 
political  campaigns  like  men,  mount  the  rostrum,  and  occupy  pulpits.     Look  at 


284  Official  Report  of  the 

Canada,  where  almost  exactly  the  same  conditions  prevail.  Look  at  the  T  .-Jied 
States,  where  women  are  admitted  to  every  position  of  honor  to  which  they 
aspire,  from  managing  a  farm  or  a  silver-mine  to  pleading  a  case  befoie  the 
Supreme  Court  or  performing  a  difficult  surgical  operation.  My  obser\ation 
has  been  that,  favored  as  women  in  many  countries  are,  it  is  in  the  United 
States  that  they  have  come  nearest  to  entering  into  their  full  possessions, 
although  Great  Britain  is  ahead  of  us  along  the  line  of  women's  political  eman- 
cipation.    In  many  other  respects,  it  is  very  far  behind. 

I  visited  the  San  Sebastian  catacombs  with  a  party  of  friends  who  were  with 
me  at  Rome.  In  the  shaft  that  leads  to  the  vaults  beneath  we  were  met  by  a 
bare-footed  friar,  dressed  in  a  gray  gown  with  a  rope  around  his  waist,  who 
presented  each  of  us  with  a  little  wax  taper  and  led  us  to  the  altar,  where  they 
were  lighted  by  the  fire  that  burns  there  continually.  Then  one  by  one,  in  a 
long  procession,  we  moved  toward  the  catacombs.  An  iron  gate  slammed 
behind  us  with  a  thunderous  sound,  shutting  out  the  world.  We  found  our- 
selves in  a  long,  dark,  narrow  passage  with  vaults  on  either  side,  many  of  which 
were  open,  revealing  their  horrible  contents.  The  way  led  down  forever,  it 
seemed,  into  miles  of  subterranean  passages,  each  step  more  and  more  slip- 
pery and  uncertain,  and  the  darkness  deepening  ;  but  our  hearts  did  not  fail  us, 
for  each  had  a  light  in  her  hand,  whose  flame  was  started  at  that  altar.  Ahead 
of  us  was  our  guide,  who  knew  every  step  of  the  way,  every  defect  in  the  defile, 
and  almost  every  skull  in  the  open  graves. 

Those  of  us  who  have  selected  the  narrow  way,  especially  the  leaders  of 
reform  movements,  are  set  apart  in  isolation  from  the  multitude.  The  way  is 
dark  and  the  atmosphere  dank  and  cold.  We  pass  daily  by  open  sepulchres 
where  lie  the  ashes  of  dead  hopes;  but  our  hearts  do  not  fail  us;  we  do  not 
shudder  nor  turn  back,  for  each  has  a  lamp  in  her  hand  whose  flame  was 
started  at  the  altar  of  consecration,  the  brightness  of  which  will  lighten  the 
way  for  our  own  feet,  and,  thank  God,  for  the  feet  also  of  those  who  shall  come 
after  us. 

Ahead  is  Christ,  our  guide,  who  has  been  along  these  same  sad  paths  and 
knows  every  step  of  the  way.  The  lamp  in  his  hand  is  the  light  that  shall 
bring  all  men  to  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  to  the  glory  of  that  unending 
day  when  his  will  shall  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

I  don't  know  what  you  think  about  it,  but  I  think  the  women  who  lead  phil- 
anthropic and  religious  enterprises  are  the  bravest  women  on  earth.  God  only 
can  ever  be  able  to  know  the  crucifixion  they  have  endured  in  carrying  the 
blessed  tidings  of  this  latter  dispensation  to  the  souls  of  the  starving  and  the 
heavy-laden.  From  the  beginning  they  have  been  laughed  at  and  reviled  and 
scorned  ;  but  they  have  gone  on  their  way  undaunted,  knowing  that  they  were 
fulfilling  a  divine  commission  and  were  backed  by  the  power  of  God. 

"  They  did  not  hope  to  be  mowers 
And  gather  the  ripe  golden  ears, 
Until  they  had  first  been  sowers, 
And  watered  the  furrows  with  tears." 

None  but  God  can  ever  know  the  crucifixion  of  having  to  go  into  homes 
where  there  is  an  utter  lack  of  sympathy,  where  in  each  smile  there  lurks  a 
sneer.  None  but  God  can  know  the  hardness  of  pushing  the  work  in  places 
where  people  do  not  care  to  receive  it ;  the  constant  strife  witli  the  liquor  traffic 
and  the  political  power  back  of  it;  standing  for  principles  that  the  world 
regards  as  useless  or  insulting;  the  battle  of  radicalism,  which  means  Christ 
brought  down  to  dull  earth,  against  conservatism,  which  means  selfishness. 
No  one  but  God  can  know  the  loneliness  of  spirit,  the  bodily  fatigue,  the  con- 
stant strain  on  brain  and  heart  and  nerve,  that  fills  the  days  of  these  workers  ; 
but  we  are  willing  to  undergo  it  all  if  by  our  sufferings  one  soul  has  been 
brightened  or  one  community  brought  into  touch  with  God. 

The  women  of  these  philanthropic  and  religious  movements  are  life-saving 
women.  They  walk  up  and  down  the  rock-bound  coast  of  the  world  waving 
the  danger-signal  to  the  souls  that  pass  by  on  the  great  deep  of  temptation. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  285 

They  too  have  worn  steep  paths  into  the  stony  ground;  they  too  have  felt 
the  icy  winds  and  tasted  the  brine  of  the  salt  spray;  they  too  have  slipped 
upon  the  rocks  and  been  swept  into  the  sea  of  eternity;  but  their  places  are 
supplied.  The  watch  is  kept  up;  the  signals  are  given.  Storm-tossed  craft 
sail  by  into  the  harbor  of  peaceful  lives  under  the  shadow  of  the  Most  High. 
But  out  on  the  ocean  there  is  now  a  floating  spar  too  far  away  to  catch  the 
gleam  of  the  danger-signal.  In  this  sad  world  there  is  many  a  face  that 
tells  the  tale  of  a  heartache,  and  many  a  life  that  bears  the  history  of  a  wreck- 
age. 

In  this  world  daily  there  is  a  conflict  being  waged  between  the  home  and 
the  saloon.  The  liquor  traffic,  an  indomitable  host  of  blood  and  iron,  is  bear- 
ing down  upon  us.  Our  homes  are  being  wrecked ;  our  hearts  are  being 
broken;  mothers  are  crying  out  in  woe  unspeakable,  "O  saloons,  give  me 
back  my  sons." 

Oh,  the  heartache  of  the  world  !  Oh,  the  pain  of  life  !  Oh,  the  mystery  of  it ! 
My  friends,  I  ask  you  to-day  in  the  name  of  God  to  help  ease  the  burden,  to 
cool  the  fever,  to  still  the  throbbing,  aching  pulse  in  the  heart  of  humanity. 

Mrs.  Baer  :  I  am  sorry  to  tell  you  that  the  next  speaker  on  our  programme 
is  not  with  us  this  morning.  We  are  very  sorry  not  to  have  Mrs.  Whittemore  with 
us  this  morning,  and  doubly  sorry  for  the  reason  which  prevents  her  being  here. 
I  have  a  letter  which  I  will  read  to  you,  explaining  that  her  daughter  Emma, 
seventeen  years  of  age,  is  suddenly  and  hopelessly  ill.  I  know  you  will  all 
unite  together  in  raising  a  prayer  that  this  dear  girl  may  be  restored. 

At  these  annual  gatherings  we  all  delight  to  call  ourselves  a  Christian  En- 
deavor army.  We  have  with  us  a  representative  of  another  branch  of  God's 
army  which  has  done  an  equally  good  work  with  us  in  another  way.  I  take 
pleasure  this  morning  in  introducing  to  you  a  representative  of  the  Salvation 
Army.  We  had  hoped  that  you  would  have  the  privilege  of  hearing  the  daugh- 
ter of  General  Booth  this  morning.  Consul  Mrs.  F.  De  L.  Booth-Tucker ;  we 
had  also  hoped  that  Mrs.  Ballington  Booth  of  the  American  Volunteers  might 
be  here  ;  but  Mrs.  Booth-Tucker  has  met  with  a  painful  injury,  and  Mrs.  Balling- 
ton  Booth  was  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  committee.  I  take  great 
pleasure,  however,  in  presenting  Major  Swift,  of  the  Salvation  Army. 

Address  of  Major  Susie  Swift,  New  York  City. 

Mrs.  Chairman  and  Dear  Friends : — I  regret  with  you  the  enforced  and  unex- 
pected absence  of  my  dear  leader,  Mrs.  Booth-Tucker,  but  I  feel  so  deeply  the 
value  of  the  moments  which  you  lend  me  in  her  name  that  I  dare  not  waste 
them  even  in  expressions  of  regret. 

I  trust  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  you  hear  me  ;  and  yet  if  my  voice  is  not  as 
strong  as  I  could  wish,  will  you  bear  with  me  when  I  tell  you  that  for  weeks  it 
has  been  keyed  to  the  low  pitch  of  sick-room  and  death-chamber,  and  that  I 
have  learned  to  hush  it,  as  we  do  instinctively  hush  our  voices  when  we  stand 
in  the  outer  court  while  a  soul  is  passing  to  the  presence  of  the  King. 

I  have  taken  it  for  granted  that,  leaving  out  of  sight  all  questions  of  specific 
religious  creed,  I  speak  to  women  who  desire  to  better  the  world ;  to  women 
with  aspirations,  with  plans,  with  purposes;  and  I  rejoice  to  know  that  I  need 
waste  no  moments  in  speaking  to  you  of  those  generalities  which  are  some- 
times styled  "the  elevation  of  the  masses,"  but  that  I  may  confine  myself  to  the 
practical  knowledge  which  I  have  gained  during  the  twelve  years  in  which  God 
has  privileged  me  to  work  among  a  people  who,  their  enemies  themselves  being 
judges,  have  had  exceptional  success  in  the  single  point  of  making  bad  people 
good  people. 

My  own  call,  when  I  rose  from  my  knees,  after  the  fifteen  minutes'  face-to- 
face  communion  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  changed  all  life  for  me, 
was  to  the  poorest  and  to  the  lowest  and  to  the  weakest  and  to  the  worst. 
When  I  came  face  to  face  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  recognized  him  as  a 
living  spiritual  presence,  and  felt  as  never  before  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who 
fared  coarsely,  and  dressed  roughly,  and  who  went  to  the  stupid  people  and  to 


286  Official  Report  of  the 

the  ignorant  people  and  to  the  bad  people,  was  not  only  my  Saviour  but  my 
personal  Friend,  1  wanted  to  follow  him  ;  and  I  believe  that  that  is  the  universal 
experience  of  the  truly  converted  soul. 

But  you  say,  Are  we  all  to  become  missionaries  and  all  to  be  workers?  Yes, 
in  that  Christian  Endeavor  means,  if  we  believe  the  Word  of  God,  Christian 
success.  Yes,  in  that  the  bettering  of  the  worst  and  most  miserable  must  be 
our  chiefest  aim. 

My  own  conceptions  of  human  need  have  somewhat  altered.  My  views  per- 
haps have  widened.  I  stand  before  you  to-day  more  cognizant  of  the  miseries 
of  the  rich,  more  appreciative  of  the  fact  that  soul  starvation  may  exist  in  those 
whose  bodies  have  never  hungered,  than  on  that  day  twelve  years  ago  when  I 
vowed  myself  to  the  service  of  God's  weal<;est,  and  worst,  and  furthest-strayed 
children;  and  yet  I  believe  that  the  soul-starved  rich  are  best  helped  by  us 
Christians  keeping  before  us  that  original  conception  of  going  first  and  fore- 
most, of  going  in  thegreatest  numbers,  of  going  with  the  most  persistent  inten- 
sity, where  the  need  is  greatest. 

I  feel  so  strongly  the  limitations  and  perversions  to  which  the  human  intel- 
lect is  subject,  and  I  realize  so  strongly  the  almost  infinite  capacity  for  confu- 
sion and  misunderstanding  and  interpretation  existing  in  our  human  vocabulary, 
that  I  hesitate  to  make  my  estimate  of  the  soul  status  of  any  man  or  woman,  for 
this  world  or  the  next,  existent  upon  their  religious  belief.  At  the  same  time  I 
am  forced  to  the  conviction,  after  these  years  of  experience,  that  direct  belief 
in  a  few  fundamental  points  is  absolutely  essential  to  us  if  we  want  to  help  up 
to  God  the  people  who  are  farthest  away  from  him.  Our  own  articles  of  war, 
our  own  profession  of  faith  in  the  Salvation  Army,  only  brings  out  such  points 
as  we  consider  to  have  the  most  definite  effect  on  a  man's  own  character,  and 
therefore  on  his  power  of  helping  others.  First  and  foremost  as  Christian  work- 
ers, you  and  I,  if  we  are  to  go  to  those  who  are  sunk  in  sin  with  a  method  which 
is  to  be  of  the  slightest  avail  to  them,  must  believe  in  a  regenerative  religion. 

Mrs.  Barrett  was  speaking  about  the  girls  whom  she  gives  her  life  to  help. 
My  mind  went  back  to  my  own  first  tentative  effort  at  rescue  work,  long  before 
I  realized  that  the  power  of  God  on  the  human  soul  could  change  all  life  and 
all  purpose,  long  before  I  realized  the  full  force  that  is  bound  up  in  that  word 
"regeneration." 

My  mother  had  sent  me,  in  one  of  my  vacations  from  Vassar  College,  down 
to  New  York  to  bring  her  back  a  servant.  In  a  way  that  I  need  not  stop  to 
tell  you  of,  a  girl  whose  eyes  blazed  fire  had  planted  herself  in  my  way  and 
said,  in  spite  of  the  superintendent  of  the  Intelligence  Office,  who  tried  to  pre- 
vent her  from  even  speaking  to  me,  with  her  soul  in  those  black  eyes,  "  Oh,  take 
me.  1  heard  you  say  you  wanted  a  girl  to  go  up  into  the  country.  I  want  to 
be  good.  I  know,"  she  said  in  her  brusque  way,  "  I  have  raised  the  devil 
for  six  years,  but  I  want  to  be  good ;  and  if  you  will  only  take  me  and  give  me 
a  chance,  I  will  promise  to  serve  you  faithfully." 

In  my  girlish  ignorance  and  inexperience  I  only  faintly  appreciated  the  past 
that  lay  behind  that  other  girl ;  but  something  in  my  heart  was  reached  and  I 
said,  "  By  the  grace  of  God,  she  shall  have  a  chance  to  be  good."  I  took  her 
up  with  me.  I  told  my  Christian  mother  just  as  little  of  what  I  understood  of 
her  story  as  I  could.  I  took  her  up  into  the  fresh,  green  country,  and  put  her 
under  the  charge  of  a  Christian  housekeeper,  who  regarded  it  as  her  God-given 
mission  to  trv  to  help  the  servants  under  her  to  be  good.  Mary  wanted  to  be 
good,  and  I  thought  her  Christian  surroundings  would  help  her;  but  I  had  noth- 
ing in  my  heart  to  put  into  her  heart,  and  after  about  six  weeks  of  the  country 
life  and  of  the  hygiene,  and  my  own  careful  study  of  her,  and  all  I  could  do 
for  her,  my  girl  came  to  me  again,  and  again  her  eyes  blazed  fire.  She  said, 
"  I  am  going  back  now.  I  have  tried  to  be  good,  but  I  can't  do  it.  Your  re- 
ligion is  not  strong  enough  for  me  ;  "  and  looking  into  my  own  heart  and  my 
own  life,  I  realized  that  had  I  been  born  where  that  girl  was  born,  had  I  been 
bred  as  she  was  bred,  had  my  playground  as  a  child  been  in  the  streets  and  in 
the  city  slums,  had  my  only  pleasures  in  my  growing  girlhood  been  pleasures 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  287 

with  poison  at  their  heart,  the  semblance  of  religion  I  had  would  not  have  been 
strong  enough  for  me,  either. 

But  the  day  when  I  rose  from  my  knees  at  the  penitent  form  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  after  1  had  laid  my  hopes,  my  aspirations,  and  my  all  at  the  feet  of  the 
God  who  took  my  body  and  soul,  one  of  my  first  memories  was  of  the  black 
eyes  of  that  girl  far  away  in  New  York  City;  and  I  said,  "Thank  God,  I  have 
got  a  religion  now  that  is  strong  enough  for  Mary." 

After  these  twelve  years  I  feel  that  I  have  a  religion  in  my  own  soul  strong 
enough  for  all  the  lost  girls  like  my  Mary,  and  that  the  regenerative  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  one  for  the  lost,  and  the  fallen,  and  the  outcast.  Then,  too, 
we  must  have  a  belief  in  God's  will  and  God's  power  to  do  all  that  is  necessary 
to  make  people  good.  People  say  sometimes,  "  Do  you  really  believe  that 
God  will  take  the  desire  for  drink  from  a  drunkard  ?  That  is  as  much  as  to  say 
that  he  will  make  a  new  coat  for  a  drunkard's  stomach."  Thank  God,  we  of 
the  Salvation  Army  believe  that  if  it  is  essential  to  make  a  new  coat  for  a 
drunkard's  stomach  to  make  a  sober  man  of  him,  that  God  who  fashioned  all 
that  delicate,  sensitive  tissue  that  we  call  the  mucous  membrane  is  able  to  re- 
make it  as  well.  In  every  land  our  annals  tell  of  men  and  women  who  testify 
that  the  very  desire  for  evil  of  all  sorts  has  been  taken  from  them. 

I  wish  to  God  I  had  time  to  tell  you  how  God  can  alter  the  whole  brain 
habit  of  the  sceptical,  and  make  believers  out  of  those  whom  we  call  born  infi- 
dels. We  must  believe  that  God  will  give  us  a  definite  consciousness  of  the 
forgiveness  of  sin.  '"  Heaven  itself  can  not  make  my  past  as  if  it  had  never 
been,"  said  a  fallen  girl  of  New  England  to  me  one  day,  a  girl  who  had  been 
ruined  before  she  was  twelve  years  old  by  her  own  father.  '•  No,"  I  answered, 
"  heaven  itself  can  not  make  a  past  like  yours  as  if  it  had  never  been,  but  the 
love  of  Jesus  Christ  can,  and  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  can  enable  you  to  save 
other  girls  like  yourself  and  help  them  up  to  him." 

Finally,  1  want  to  speak  for  a  moment  on  a  qualification  which  has  not  the 
slightest  possible  connection  with  any  doctrinal  views,  and  yet  which  is  the 
foremost  essential  for  us  as  Christian  Endeavorers,  as  Christians  who  are  put- 
ting forth  real  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  other  souls.  That  is,  personal  holi- 
ness of  heart  and  life ;  we  must  not  only  be  given  up  to  God's  service,  but 
possessed  of  him.  A  full  soul,  a  soul  that  is  cleansed  from  all  sin,  is  the  kind 
that  looks  attractive  to  the  sinner.  On  beyond  the  change  of  heart  and  life 
and  will  that  is  involved  in  conversion,  there  is  something  more,  something 
further, —  the  cleansing  of  our  hearts  by  the  inspiration  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
that  we  may  by  his  grace  perfectly  love  him  and  worthily  magnify  his  holy 
name  in  our  lives. 

I  do  not  say  that  no  one  can  work  for  God  without  this,  but  I  do  say  that 
until  we  have  that  perfect  cleansing  and  that  full  possession  we  are  checked 
and  hindered  and  hampered  and  thwarted  at  every  turn.  The  pure  in  heart  see 
God  in  this  world  as  well  as  in  the  next.  I  have  hinted  already  that  my  own 
communion  was  interrupted  by  sceptical  doubts  and  seasons  of  darkness,  but 
once  I  surrendered  my  all  to  God,  brain  and  mind,  as  well  as  body  and  soul,  he 
made  me  understand  how  it  was  that  the  peace  of  a  Christian  could  indeed 
flow  as  a  river.  The  path  of  the  Christian  brightens  more  and  more  steadily 
unto  the  perfect  day,  as  we  are  promised  in  the  Bible  it  will  do. 

Do  you  really  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  you,  dear  sisters,  to  have  the 
mind  that  is  in  Christ,  to  be  kept  from  wrong  feeling  and  wrong  desires,  as  well 
as  from  wrong  words  and  wrong  actions?  If  you  do  not,  let  me  ask  you  to 
study  your  Bible,  to  ask  all  living  witnesses,  to  fully  inform  and  establish  your 
own  mind  as  to  what  God's  will  and  purpose  for  you  is.  But  if  you  believe  this 
morning  that  this  is  attainable  for  us,  then  let  me  beg  you  to  surrender  your  all 
to  God,  going  out  into  the  dark  with  him  alone.  God's  path  for  me  did  indeed 
involve  going  out  from  my  country,  out  from  my  church,  out  from  my  home, 
out  from  my  friends,  to  poverty  and  to  exile  and  to  strangerhood  ;  but  in  going 
out  into  the  dark  with  God,  one  finds  himself  in  the  light  with  him,  and  hidden 
in  his  presence  the  surrender  seems  absolutely  nothing. 

One  of  our  slum  workers,  who  was  a  cultured  teacher  in  a  Brooklyn  semi- 


288  Official  Report  of  the 

nary,  said,  after  she  had  been  at  her  work  in  the  slums,  her  work  of  attending  \\-\p. 
sick  and  caring  for  little  children  and  speaking  always  to  the  poor  and  ignorant 
for  a  few  months,  that  she  used  to  lie  on  the  floor  in  prayer  at  night  and  say, 
"  O  my  God,  I  am  brain  hungry.'"  The  weeks  went  on;  her  work  went  on,  and 
her  knowledge  of  God  grew.  I  came  face  to  face  with  her  one  day  and  said, 
"  Well,  dear,  are  you  brain  hungry  still  ?  "  She  said,  "Ah,  Major,  I  have  not 
stopped  to  think  for  weeks  whether  I  was  brain  hungry,  because  I  am  so  soul 
satisfied." 

After  the  cleansing  must  come  the  indwelling,  and  then  the  love  of  God  and 
the  grace  of  God  and  the  peace  of  God  rippling  out  of  us  naturally  and  spon- 
taneously will  make  our  Christian  work  so  effortless  that  even  the  glorious 
blessed  name  bf  your  Society  will  seem  to  you  at  times  almost  a  misnomer, 
because  the  Endeavor  will  have  no  conscious  effort,  the  burden  being  laid  on 
the  indwelling  Christ. 


SATURDAY  AFTERNOON, 


Capitol    Hill. 

What  a  spectacle  !  The  wide  space  enclosed  by  the  east  and  west 
wings  of  the  national  Capitol  was  one  sea  of  human  beings,  a  flowing 
sea,  with  currents  and  tides,  with  streams  of  humanity  pouring  into  it 
from  all  avenues,  with  great  bays  stretching  out  along  East  Capitol 
Street  and  Delaware  and  Maryland  Avenues,  and  with  three  mighty 
waves  breaking  upon  and  covering  the  flights  of  Capitol  steps. 

Fifty  thousand  souls,  to  judge  from  the  more  than  five  thousand  in 
the  choir, —  that  great  choir  which,  ranged  upon  and  around  the  centre 
steps,  was  only  the  shining  nucleus  of  the  throng.  A  dazzling  sight 
indeed  was  that  fair  bank  of  human  flowers,  those  thousands  of  young 
girls  in  their  fresh  gowns  of  pink  and  white  and  dainty  blue.  And  a 
manly  sight  were  the  regiments  of  tenors  and  basses.  In  front  was 
seated  on  a  platform  "  Uncle  Sam's  "  white-uniformed  Marine  Band. 

And  to  the  right  and  left,  as  far  as  could  be  seen,  reached  a  mass  of 
heads.  In  the  shadow  of  the  beautiful  dome  the  mass  was  light  with 
straw  hats  ;  in  the  bright  sunshine  it  was  dark  with  umbrellas.  As  the 
shadow  spread,  the  crowd  brightened.  Sparkles  of  gay  color  every- 
where,—  umbrellas  of  every  brilliant  hue,  and  in  hundreds  of  places 
there  rose  above  the  assembly  the  red,  white,  and  blue  banner  of  the 
Convention,  Ohio's  garnet  flag,  New  Jersey's  orange  and  black,  Penn- 
sylvania's blue  and  red,  and  many  another  State  ensign. 

An  unequalled  setting  for  such  a  glorious  scene  were  the  lovely 
Capitol  grounds,  shining  in  the  afternoon  sun ;  the  new  national 
library,- — a  superb  piece  of  architecture;  and  that  building  of  build- 
ings, that  epic  in  stone,  our  national  Capitol.  And  the  Capitol  win- 
dows were  crowded,  and  the  crowd  overflowed  on  to  the  library 
grounds,  and  surged  up  on  the  pedestals  of  statues  and  the  bases  of 
fountains  ;  and  pushed  hard  on  the  full  areas  allotted  to  carriages. 
Yet  it  was,  of  course,  a  joyous  and  an  orderly  crowd,  and  the  police 
had  nothing  to  do  but  enjoy  it  all. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  289 

And  the  white  figure  of  George  Washington  rose  serene  from  the 
midst  of  it  all.  Was  the  spirit  of  the  great  patriot  there,  rejoicing  over 
this,  the  mightiest  gathering  of  young  patriots  ever  seen  in  the  country 
he  loved,  or  in  this  wide  world  ? 

Never  before  has  our  government  permitted  the  area  around  the  Cap- 
itol, the  very  heart  of  the  nation,  to  be  used  for  other  than  governmental 
purposes.  And  indeed  a  governmental  purpose  was  that,  since  the 
50,000  represent  nearly  3,000,000  young  people  whose  force  of  char- 
acter will  make  them  the  country's  governors  before  many  a  moon  has 
passed.  That  grand  exhibition  of  young  manhood  and  womanhood  is 
the  clearest  omen  yet  seen  of  the  coming  time  when  Christ,  whose 
right  it  is  to  reign,  shall  be  supreme  on  Capitol  Hill. 

The  trustees  of  the  United  Society  filled  one  stone  outpost.  Justice 
Harlan's  strong  face  and  giant  form  was  conspicuous  in  the  fair  setting 
of  the  topmost  rows  of  the  chorus.  The  speakers'  stand  was  filled 
with  Dr.  Clark,  Secretary  Baer,  Chairman  Smith,  Director  Foster,  Dr. 
McCrory,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Dr.  J.  Z.  Tyler,  of  Ohio. 

"Holy,  holy,  holy," — fit  opening  chorus,  that !  And  how  the  over 
4,000  young  voices  bore  that  glorious  hymn  to  heaven  !  Dr.  McCrory 
offered  prayer,  and  then  Dr.  Clark  made  a  brief  address. 

Remarks  of  President  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D. 

This  is  not  to  be  a  speech-making  occasion.  I  regret  to  say  that  Hon.  John 
Wanamaker,  who  was  announced  to  speak  from  this  platform,  has  been  obliged 
to  return  home.  His  name  was  put  on  the  programme  when  he  was  upon  the 
water,  returning  from  Europe.  We  could  not  wait  until  he  got  here  for  his 
acceptance,  but  we  thought  he  would  be  able  to  be  with  us.  He  found  he  could 
not,  and  has  been  obliged  to  go  home. 

This  will  be  essentially  a  Christian  citizenship  praise  meeting.  We  have 
speeches  often.  It  is  not  often  that  we  can  have  a  chorus  of  4,700  voices.  I  am 
sure  that  we  want  to  hear  them  sing,  and  to  join  with  them  in  their  songs. 

Just  a  word  before  I  present  the  banner  to  the  local  union  that  has  reported 
the  best  work  in  promoting  Christian  citizenship. 

What  a  glorious  spectacle  is  this, — these  tens  of  thousands!  I  think  this 
scene  will  be  photographed  upon  our  minds  as  long  as  we  live.  We  shall  never 
forget  the  sight  at  the  capital  of  the  nation. 

It  means  that  Christian  Endeavor  stands  for  Christian  citizenship.  That  is 
the  significance  of  this  meeting.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  are  partisans,  that 
as  a  society  we  belong  to  any  one  political  party.  It  does  mean  that  because 
we  are  Christians,  we  are  Christian  citizens.  It  means  that  we  stand  for  tem- 
perance, for  purity,  in  a  word,  for  righteousness;  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  one 
city  union  has  obtained,  by  its  specially  good  work  in  Christian  citizenship,  the 
banner.     Many  cities  have  done  excellently,  but  Cleveland  excelleth  them  all. 

Last  year  Syracuse  had  the  banner.  She  deserved  it,  and  she  held  it  nobly. 
She  has  done  good  work  this  year.  Other  cities  have  also  done  nobly,  notably 
Chicago;  Hamilton,  in  Ontario,  across  the  line, —  Christian  citizenship  means 
just  the  same  thing  in  Canada  that  it  does  in  the  United  States, —  Hamilton, 
Ont.,  should  have  honorable  mention ;  also  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  Jamesvilie,  Wis., 
and  others. 

But  there  is  one  city  that  especially  deserves  and  will  receive  the  banner.  In 
the  estimation  of  the  committee,  the  city  union  of  Cleveland  has  reported  the 
best  work. 

In  the  name  of  the  United  Society,  I  present  this  banner  to  the  representa- 


290  Official  Report  of  the 

tive  of  Cleveland,  the  Rev.  J.  Z.  Tyler,  D.D.,  who  will  accept  it  in  the  nanie  of 
the  fair  city  by  the  lake. 

Take  it,  Cleveland.     Take  it,  and  keep  it  as  long  as  you  can. 

Remarks  of  Rev.  J.  Z.  Tyler,  D.D.,  Cleveland,  O. 

Fellow  Citizens  (applause).  Fellow  Endeavorers  (Cries  of  "  That's  better"): — 
From  the  salt  marshes  of  Syracuse  to  the  forest  by  the  unsalted  sea,  the 
banner  moves  westward.  It  stands  not  simply  for  Christian  Endeavor.  It 
stands  for  citizenship  exalted.  No  clearer  demonstration  of  the  divine  touch 
upon  the  heart  of  him  who  has  led  us  in  this  movement  can  be  found  anywhere 
than  in  the  suggestion  that  Christian  Endeavor  shall  give  special  attention  to 
Christian  citizenship. 

I  believe  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  done  more  to  contrib- 
ute to  the  new  patriotism  than  any  other  one  thing,  for  it  must  be  recognized 
that  there  is  coming  a  civic  revival  throughout  the  Republic.  This  does  not 
mean  that  Christian  Endeavor  is  in  any  sense  to  ally  itself  to  any  one  party, 
whatever  may  be  its  purpose,  its  principles,  or  its  record,  but  that  every  En- 
deavorer  stands  for  himself,  and  will  do  his  duty  as  a  Christian  citizen. 

I  shall  carry  this  banner  with  pride  —  a  just  pride,  I  hope, —  back  to  that  city 
which  had  the  honor  and  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  the  convention  in  1894  ; 
and  we  shall  hold  it  until  some  other  city  shall  be  able  to  take  it  from  us. 

After  these  stirring  exercises  came  the  praise  service.  Of  course 
the  Marine  Band  made  matchless  music.  Of  course  the  fifty  regi- 
ments of  Endeavorers  zealously  applauded  each  patriotic  piece,  gayly 
swinging  fiags  and  hats  and  umbrellas  to  the  more  sprightly  tunes,  such 
as  "  Yankee  Doodle."  And  of  course  Mr.  Foster's  tremendous  chorus 
took  hold  on  the  very  heavens.  The  international  hymn,  "  America," 
"  There's  a  Royal  Banner,"  Dr.  S.  F.  Smith's  "  The  Cross  and  Vic- 
tory," and  Mr.  Foster's  own  "  Loyal  Soldiers," —  those  v^^ere  the  songs 
they  sung. 

Finally  came  the  march  down  historic  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  The 
Marine  Band  led  the  way  with  inspiring  strains.  There  followed  the 
trustees  of  the  United  Society.  Dr.  Tyler  bore  his  Christian  citizen- 
ship banner.  In  the  centre  were  the  officers  of  the  United  Soci- 
ety. Very  appropriately  there  followed  the  noble  Committee  of  '96, 
and  then  came  the  mighty  army  of  Endeavorers,  pouring  down  Cap- 
itol Hill  in  an  endless  stream. 

The  route  of  a  mile  and  a  third  was  lined  all  the  way  with  a  dense 
crowd  of  spectators.  All  windows  were  filled.  The  Endeavorers  sang 
as  they  marched,  the  favorite  song  being,  of  course,  "  Onward,  Chris- 
tian Soldiers."  As  they  passed  the  gayly  decorated  State  headquar- 
ters they  saluted,  and  similar  honor  was  rendered  to  prominent 
Endeavor  leaders  of  whom  the  procession  caught  sight. 

The  procession  was  dispersed  at  the  Treasury  Building. 


SATURDAY    EVENING. 


Meeting  of  Citizens  of  Washington  in  Tents  Washington  and  Endeavor. 

It   had  been  a  matter  for  regret  at  earlier  conventions  that  those 
living  in  the  city  so  generously  opening  wide  its  doors  have  been  in  so 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  291 

large  measure  barred  out  from  the  meetings.  At  Washington  special 
provisions  were  made  for  the  citizens.  Meetings  especially  for  them 
were  held  in  Tents  Washington  and  Endeavor  on  Saturday  evening. 
These  were  intended  to  set  forth  the  aims  and  possibilities  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  and  the  speakers  were  all  trustees. 

In  Tent  Washington  Rev.  J.  Z.  Tyler,  D.D.,  told  some  of  the  objects 
that  Christian  Endeavor  does  not  aim  at.  It  does  not  seek  to  carry 
out  any  one's  pet  schemes  of  social  reform.  It  does  not  strive  for  size, 
but  for  strength.  It  aims  at  the  enthronement  of  Christ.  It  aims  to  pro- 
mote religious  activity  by  working  outward  from  within.  It  aims  to 
exalt  in  Christian  life  the  idea  of  a  covenant. 

Bishop  Alexander  Walters,  D.D.,  spoke  powerfully  of  the  inspiration 
that  had  come  from  the  scenes  of  the  afternoon  at  the  Capitol,  and 
felt  that  the  city  had  not  been  praised  by  the  committee  as  highly  as 
it  deserved.  His  race  had  been  set  free  by  a  declaration  issued  from 
a  spot  not  far  from  that  tent,  and  Christian  Endeavor  is  engaged  in 
freeing  souls  from  slavery  to  sin. 

In  his  effective  way  Dr.  Wayland  Hoyt  described  Christian  Endeav- 
or's efforts  to  win  the  young.  When  William  the  Conqueror  sailed  to 
take  England,  a  golden  boy  was  the  figurehead  of  his  vessel,  pointing 
to  the  goal.  Christian  Endeavor  seeks  to  secure  the  devotion  of  the 
golden  youth  to  Christ,  thus  pointing  the  way  to  a  noble  future.  It 
does  this  by  making  Christ  supreme,  and  by  training  them  for  service. 

After  the  speaking  the  audience  listened  with  delight  to  several 
selections  by  the  Hampton  singers. 

The  "  ebonized  trustee,"  as  Dr.  Hill  styled  Bishop  Arnett,  gave  the 
first  address  in  Tent  Endeavor.  He  said  that  the  Society  aims  to  make 
a  good  man  out  of  a  bad  man,  and  then  to  make  every  man  feel  his  duty. 
If  a  man  has  true  religion,  the  devil  will  know  it,  as  well  as  God.  The 
best  way  to  test  a  man's  religion  is  to  ask  his  wife  about  him.  The 
Society  aims  to  make  patriotic  citizens,  and  the  scenes  witnessed  this 
week  are  greater  than  any  of  the  historic  scenes  of  the  time  of  Lincoln 
and  Grant. 

Rev.  William  Patterson  said  that  we  are  told  a  woman's  history 
can  be  written  in  a  few  words  :  She  was  born,  she  lived,  she  chewed 
gum,  she  died.  So  the  history  of  many  a  man  could  be  written  in 
a  few  words  :  He  lived,  he  dressed  himself  nicely,  he  chewed  tobacco, 
he  swung  a  cane,  and  after  a  while  he  died.  Christian  Endeavor  gives 
a  purpose  to  life.  It  means  practical  work,  too,  and  not  mere  theory. 
A  man  might  write  a  whole  book  on  the  theory  of  the  bicycle,  on  how 
to  get  on,  and  how  to  start,  and  all  that,  but  you  put  him  on  a  bicycle, 
and  say,  "  Off  you  go,"  and  off  he  does  go  - —  to  the  ground. 

Dr.  Beckley  stated  the  work  of  Christian  Endeavor  as  teaching  the 
young  to  do  something.  God  help  a  man  that  can  do  anything.  You 
do  not  want  him;  you  want  a  man  that  can  do  something.  It  is  fos- 
tering the  true  Christian  fellowship.  He  would  not  waste  his  breath  in 
talking  about  Christian  fellowship  as  a  sentiment ;  we  need  it  as  a 
power. 


292  Official  Report  of  the 

The  fellowship  of  Christian  Endeavor,  it  was  pertinently  suggested 
by  Dr.  Hill,  who  presided,  was  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  speakers 
were  a  Methodist,  a  Baptist,  a  Congregationalist,  and  a  Presbyterian. 

State  Rallies  and  Receptions. 

Washington  hospitality  was  so  hearty  that  all  the  visitors  would  have 
been  glad  to  stay  longer.  Illinois  found  this  out  when  trying  on  Satur- 
day night  to  plan  in  regard  to  a  special  train  for  the  return  trip.  Votes 
were  taken  for  one  day  after  another  with  so  little  result  that  finally 
those  that  had  decided  at  all  on  the  day  of  their  return  were  asked  to 
rise,  and  very  few  responded.  With  such  feelings  between  hosts  and 
guests  the  State  receptions,  the  delightful  social  feature  of  the  week, 
could  not  fail  to  be  a  great  success.  The  common  thought  took  a 
pleasant  form  of  expression  in  the  case  of  Iowa,  which  had  a  double 
reception  at  the  church  assigned  as  its  headquarters.  The  society  en- 
tertaining the  State  held  a  reception  in  the  lecture-room,  and  then  all 
adjourned  to  the  church,  where  the  compliment  was  returned.  Penn- 
sylvania had  to  have  two  rallies  in  different  audience-rooms  of  the 
church,  because  the  attendance  was  so  large.  Enthusiasm  ran  high  in 
all  the  gatherings,  even  those  where  but  few  delegates  could  be  ex- 
pected, as  at  the  rally  of  New  Mexico  and  the  Floating  Societies, 
while  Chatauqua  salutes  and  applause  were  as  frequent  as  in  the  largest 
meetings  of  the  Convention. 

At  almost  all  the  receptions  the  exercises  included  addresses  of 
welcome  by  representatives  of  the  local  church  and  Endeavor  Society, 
with  a  response  by  some  State  officer.  In  addition  to  this  some  of  the 
States  had  arranged  more  or  less  elaborate  programmes  with  a  number 
of  speakers.  The  president  and  secretary  of  the  United  Society  were 
in  demand  and  spoke  at  several  places.  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills  spoke  at 
the  New  York  rally,  and  Dr.  Crafts,  who  also  addressed  the  Endeavor- 
ers  from  the  Keystone  State.  Ex-Governor  Ordway  and  a  Nebraska 
Indian  delegate  addressed  Dakota's  rally.  Rev.  Stanley  Matthews, 
D.D.,  of  England,  was  at  Ohio's  reception  ;  Rev.  Thomas  Marshall, 
D.D.,  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  was  welcomed 
by  Illinois ;  and  Maine  claimed  once  more  Dr.  Clark,  and  Mr.  William 
H.  Pennell,  whose  home  is  now  in  Washington.  Wisconsin  and  Indi- 
ana were  entertained  by  graphic  accounts  of  their  journey. 

Music,  of  course,  played  a  part  in  the  programme.  The  Canadians 
sung  their  national  hymns,  and  Massachusetts  kept  "Boston,  '95,"  in 
mind,  not  only  by  the  many  "white  and  crimson  banners,"  but  by  sing- 
ing by  three  hundred  of  the  Boston  choir.  State  songs  or  songs  and 
hymns  written  for  the  occasion  were  heard  at  the  receptions  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Maine,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  New  Jersey. 

The  thought  of  future  conventions  gave  color  to  some  of  the  gath- 
erings. Tennessee  was  tired  out  with  celebrating  the  promise  of 
'•  Nashville,  '98,"  but  not  too  tired  to  celebrate  some  more.  Kentucky 
consoled  herself  with  the  thought  that  for  many  the  road  to  Nashville 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  293 

must  lead  through  Louisville.  Pennsylvania  with  flags  and  songs 
roused  enthusiasm  for  the  State  convention  at  Scranton  in  the  autumn. 

There  was  entertainment  of  lighter  sort.  Light  refreshments  were 
served.  Alabama  and  Louisiana  had  an  exhibition  of  the  phonograph. 
Introductions  in  many  of  the  rallies  were  accomplished  by  means  of 
cards  furnished  each  delegate  and  bearing  his  name.  In  some  cases 
these  were  used  later  for  collecting  autographs  or  for  playing  a  game. 
Those  furnished  Rhode  Island  were  pleasant  souvenirs  bearing  the 
picture  of  the  new  church  building  soon  to  be  erected  by  their  hosts, 
the  Mount  Pleasant  Congregational  Church.  Oklahoma  and  Missis- 
sippi were  given  photographs  of  the  Eastern  Presbyterian  Church,  their 
headquarters. 

Indiana  returned  the  compliment  of  the  souvenirs  and  kindness  that 
they  received  by  presenting  their  hosts  with  a  silk  flag.  Massachusetts 
expressed  its  feelings  in  a  similar  way,  and  there  was  not  a  State  that 
would  not  have  been  glad  to  join  Kentucky  in  passing  a  vote  of  thanks 
by  rising.  The  evening  had  strengthened  greatly  the  ties  between 
entertainers  and  entertained,  as  well  as  those  between  delegates  from 
the  same  State. 

SUNDAY  MORNING. 


Church  Services. 

The  clause  of  the  pledge  relating  to  daily  reading  of  the  Bible  was 
the  topic  for  Sunday  morning's  early  meetings.  When  the  hour  for 
the  Sunday  school  arrived,  the  Endeavorers  in  great  numbers  came 
with  it.  They  were  interested  to  see  the  model  arrangement  in  some 
of  the  larger  schools,  and  they  were  not  less  interested  to  join  in  study 
of  the  Word. 

By  the  time  for  the  church  services  to  begin  the  churches  were  over- 
flowing. A  Washington  paper  remarked  that  the  visitors  had  been  in 
all  respects  teachers  by  object-lessons,  and  that  Sunday's  lesson 
showed  how  practical  Christians  observe  the  Sabbath,  the  unusual 
feature  of  the  text  being,  "  Do  as  I  do,  and  not  merely  as  I  say." 

It  was  not  because  the  capital  is  at  all  lacking  in  strong  preachers 
whom  the  visitors  would  have  enjoyed  hearing,  but  it  was  according  to 
custom,  that  the  pulpits  were  chiefly  filled  by  leading  ministers  in 
attendance  on  the  Convention,  and  naturally  most  of  them  were  influ- 
enced in  their  choice  of  themes  by  the  thought  of  the  special  character 
of  their  audiences.  Many  of  the  delegates  went  to  their  church  head- 
quarters, but  they  also  scattered  much. 

The  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  in  the  evening  were  characteristic, 
testimony,  prayer,  and  song  filling  the  minutes  to  the  utmost ;  and  no  one 
was  heard  to  complain  that  the  young  people  did  not  remain  to  the  sec- 
ond service.  In  the  majority  of  cases  this  second  meeting  was  a  preach- 
ing service,  but  several  pastors  improved  the  opportunity  to  arrange 
"  platform  meetings,"  widi  many  brief  addresses  from  different  visitors. 


294  Official  Report  of  the 

SUNDAY  AFTERNOON. 


Denominational  Missionary  Meetings. 

One  of  the  valuable  new  features  of  the  Convention  was  the  holding 
of  denominational  missionary  rallies  separate  from  the  denominational 
rallies,  that  have  already  become  so  familiar  and  popular.  In  twenty- 
two  different  churches  were  gathered  the  young  people  of  twenty-two 
different  denominations  to  listen  to  their  missionary  leaders  and  the 
most  prominent  pastors  in  their  churches  while  they  stirred  them  with 
the  thrilling  pictures  of  missionary  heroism,  or  moved  them  to  greater 
zeal  and  consecration  by  strong  representations  of  the  present  mission- 
ary crisis, —  the  debts  of  the  boards,  the  many  open  doors,  the  appal- 
ling need  of  money  and  of  men. 

Whenever  the  denomination  had  a  church  in  Washington,  the  rally 
was  held  in  that  church.  Several  of  these  rallies,  compelled  to  meet 
in  churches  of  another  faith,  had  much  to  say  about  establishing 
churches  of  their  own  in  the  capital  city. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  our  limited  space  to  give  full  accounts  of 
these  twenty-two  crowded  sessions.     Only  a  few  glimpses  are  possible. 

The  three  denominations  most  prominent  in  Christian  Endeavor  — 
Baptist,  Presbyterian,  and  Congregationalist  —  occupied  the  three 
great  tents. 

Large  space  in  the  meetings  was  given,  of  course,  to  the  missionaries 
now  in  this  country.  The  main  feature  of  the  Methodist  rally  was  the 
stirring  address  by  that  heroic  missionary  to  the  far  North,  Rev.  Eger- 
ton  R,  Young,  of  Canada.  The  eloquent  Miss  Margaret  W.  Leitch,  of 
Ceylon,  spoke  to  the  Congregationalists,  together  with  the  home  mis- 
sionary. Rev.  Warren  Goff,  Rev.  Rufus  Clark,  of  Japan,  and  Dr.  Todd, 
of  Turkey.  "  Uncle  "  Boston  Smith,  that  original  home  missionary  of 
the  Baptists,  famous  for  his  chapel-car  ministrations,  addressed  their 
great  rally,  and  also  Rev.  W.  H.  Sloan,  of  Mexico,  and  Rev.  W.  M. 
Thomas,  Burmah,  who  has  translated  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge 
into  two  languages,  and  said  that,  if  God  gave  him  more  tongues,  he 
would  translate  it  for  still  other  peoples.  Rev.  George  P.  Goll,  the 
Lutheran  missionary,  who  has  established  thirteen  Lutheran  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies  in  Liberia,  spoke  at  the  Lutheran  rally,  which  was 
especially  notable  for  its  size  and  enthusiasm.  The  Friends  listened 
to  a  missionary  returned  from  Palestine,  who  sung  them  an  Arabic 
hymn.  The  rally  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America  was  addressed 
by  Rev.  Henry  Stout,  D.D.,  returned  from  their  field  in  Japan.  From 
the  United  Brethren  mission  in  Western  Africa  came  Rev.  L.  O.  Burt- 
ner,  to  carry  Africa's  appeal  to  the  young  people  of  his  church.  Three 
Mennonite  home  missionaries  told  their  rally  about  their  work  among 
the  Indian  tribes  in  the  West. 

These  gatherings  were  conspicuous  also  for  the  presence  of  mis- 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  295 

sionary  secretaries,  who  wisely  made  use  of  this  splendid  opportunity 
for  reaching  their  young  people.  Among  these  were  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  Dr.  C.  C.  Creegan  and  Rev.  A.  F.  McGregor,  of  Canada ;  the 
Lutheran,  Dr.  Hartman ;  the  Baptists,  Dr.  Mabie,  Dr.  Seymour,  and 
Dr.  Morehouse ;  Miss  M.  Catharine  Jones,  of  the  Presbyterians  ;  the 
Disciples,  Rev.  B.  L.  Smith  and  Rev.  F.  M.  Raines;  and  Dr.  Fuller- 
ton  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Laughlin,  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians. 

Among  the  prominent  speakers  were :  Southern  Presbyterians, 
Professor  James  Lewis  Howe,  a  trustee  of  the  United  Society ;  Dr. 
James  L.  Hill  and  Bishop  Arnett,  two  trustees,  who  addressed  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  rally  ;  Canon  Richardson,  another  trustee, 
who  addressed  the  Episcopalian  rally ;  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills  and  Dr. 
Wallace  Radcliffe,  who  spoke  to  the  Presbyterians;  Dr.  J.  Z.  Tyler,  a 
trustee.  Dr.  F.  D.  Power,  Dean  Willett,  of  the  Disciples'  Divinity 
House  of  Chicago  University,  and  Miss  Jessie  H.  Brown,  editor  of 
The  Lookout,  all  of  whom  spoke  to  the  Disciples ;  Bishop  Walters,  who 
addressed  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  rally;  Dr.  H.  S. 
Williams  and  Rev.  Ira  Landrith,  editor  of  The  Cumberland  Presbyterian, 
who  spoke  before  their  own  young  people,  the  latter  also  addressing 
the  Welsh  rally,  which  brought  together  many  Welsh  Endeavorers,  a 
large  part  of  whose  exercises  were  in  their  native  tongue.  There 
were  besides,  of  the  Lutherans,  Miss  Laura  Wade  Rice,  editor  of  The 
Children's  Missionary,  and  Rev.  W.  S.  Hinman,  so  prominent  in  young 
people's  work ;  of  the  United  Brethren,  the  musician.  Rev.  E.  S. 
Lorenz;  President  T.  H.  Lewis  and  Rev,  R.  B.  Whitehead,  of  the 
Methodist  Protestants,  who  also  held  a  very  enthusiastic  meeting  of 
the  National  Christian  Endeavor  Union  of  their  denomination.  Then 
there  was  Rev.  W.  E.  Barton,  D.D.,  the  Congregationalist ;  Dr. 
Clarence  Barbour,  the  Baptist;  and  Rev.  P.  A.  Canada,  Dr.  Barrett, 
and  Rev.  G.  A.  Conibear,  of  the  Christians. 

Dr.  Bell,  United  Brethren  missionary  secretary,  illustrated  his  address 
with  charts,  and  many  of  the  speakers  used  similar  aids.  The  United 
Evangelical  rally  took  earnest  and  practical  steps  to  help  that  young 
denomination  start  out  in  missionary  work.  The  Free  Baptists'  lis- 
tened to  some  of  their  most  active  home  and  foreign  missionaries. 
The  Church  of  God  Endeavorers  held  an  interesting  rally,  addressed 
by  Dr.  Allen  and  Rev.  C.  L  Brown.  The  Moravians  filled  the  church 
at  their  rally,  which,  as  befits  this  denomination  so  prominent  in  mis- 
sionary activity,  was  one  of  the  greatest  enthusiasm. 

Altogether,  these  meetings,  though  held  at  a  time  when  the  heat  was 
almost  intolerable,  were  strikingly  vigorous,  and  are  sure  to  result  in 
greatly  increased  study  of  denominational  missions  and  rapidly  growing 
contributions  to  denominational  treasuries. 

Central  Hall. 

Mr.  Shaw,  in  the  absence  of  Rev.  Dr.  Cuyler,  who  led  the  Sabbath 
observance  meeting  in  Central  Hall,  said  that  the  presence  of  more 
than  2,000  Endeavorers  there  that  sultry  afternoon  was  proof  that  the 


296  Official  Report  of  the 

attendants  on  these  great  conventions  came  for  spiritual  purposes,  and 
not  merely  for  a  junket.  The  meeting  opened  with  the  repeating,  by 
all  the  company,  of  the  fourth  commandment.  Mr.  Foster  had  charge 
of  the  singing.  Rev.  J.  E.  Gilbert,  of  Washington,  conducted  the 
opening  devotional  exercises. 

Mrs.  McEwen,  wife  of  Dr.  H.  T.  McEwen,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee that  cared  for  the  great  New  York  Convention,  was  forcible  and 
truly  eloquent.  Rev.  J.  B.  Davison,  of  Milwaukee,  spoke  nobly  of  the 
harm  Sabbath  desecration  was  doing  to  the  laboring  man,  and  how  the 
Sabbath  is  "  God's  bridge  over  the  chasm  between  Christ  and  Chris- 
tian wage-earners."  Dr.  Alexander  Alison,  of  New  York,  poured  out 
for  half  an  hour  a  fusillade  of  fact  and  argument,  right  to  the  point,  on 
Sunday  desecration  in  all  its  forms,  by  newspapers,  saloons,  bicycle- 
riders,  railroads,  and  the  like. 

The  audience,  in  spite  of  the  great  heat,  were  enthusiastic  and  eager 
listeners.  The  meeting  ran  far  beyond  its  time  to  hear  that  eminent 
reformer,  Dr.  Wilbur  F.  Crafts,  president  of  the  Reform  League. 
With  sparkling  anecdotes  and  strong  truths  and  cogent  logic,  he 
pleaded  for  God's  day. 

Remarks  of  Treasurer  Shaw. 

There  are  some  people  who  try  to  give  us  the  impression  that  Christian  En- 
deavorers  come  up  to  their  conventions  simply  to  have  a  kind  of  excursion,  a 
good  time,  a  picnic,  as  they  call  it.  I  wish  they  could  look  in  upon  the  great 
congregations  that  are  gathered  this  afternoon.  They  would  then  understand 
that  we  mean  business  when  we  come  to  a  convention.  If  we  did  not  we  should 
not  be  here  at  this  hour,  and  under  the  pressure  of  this  atmosphere.  We  are 
not  here  for  fun.  We  are  here  for  business.  I  consider  this  one  of  the  most 
important  meetings  that  will  be  held  during  this  great  convention.  I  greatly 
regret  that  our  honored  friend  and  leader.  Dr.  Cuyler,  is  prevented  from  being 
here  on  account  of  a  sudden  attack  of  illness.  His  heart,  I  am  sure,  is  with  us. 
His  prayers  are  for  us.  We  know  that  though  he  is  absent  in  body,  he  is  pres- 
ent in  spirit.  We  shall  pray  for  him  that  many  years  of  earnest  faithful  service, 
such  as  he  has  rendered  in  the  past,  may  be  yet  in  store  for  him,  and  that  his 
voice  may  still  be  lifted  for  every  cause  of  righteousness  and  of  truth. 

Dr.  Clark  received  a  letter  yesterday  from  a  good  friend  who  was  very  much 
disturbed  about  some  reports  in  the  papers.  I  have  also  been  interviewed  by 
several  good  friends  about  some  reports  in  the  papers.  I  understand  that  one 
of  the  leading  New  York  papers  has  advertised  a  special  Christian  Endeavor 
Sunday  edition,  with  contributions  by  the  officers  of  the  United  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor.  Well,  for  ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are  vain, 
the  Chinese  are  not  the  only  people  that  stand  in  the  front  ranks.  There  are 
some  managers  of  newspapers  who  stand  there.  We  have  good  friends  on  the 
press.  They  have  done  magnificent  work  for  Christian  Endeavor  and  for  the 
cause  of  Christ  during  these  passing  days.  On  the  wings  of  their  papers  they 
have  sent  out  messages  of  truth  and  of  righteousness  ;  but  Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark 
is  not  contributing  to  Sunday  newspapers,  if  he  knows  what  he  is  doing.  Gen- 
eral Secretary  Baer  is  not  contributing  to  Sunday  newspapers,  if  he  knows  what 
he  is  doing.  Sometimes  editors  of  newspapers  may  secure  a  contribution  weeks 
in  advance,  and  hold  it  and  use  it  in  a  Sunday  edition  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  writer.  That  has  been  done  in  more  cases  than  one.  So  don't  be 
disturbed,  friends,  even  if  a  contribution  by  Dr.  Clark  should  appear  in  the 
Sunday  edition.  Don't  be  disturbed  about  Dr.  Clark's  orthodoxy  on  the  ques- 
tion of  Sunday  observance.  I  pledge  you  my  word,  and  I  have  his  statement 
for  it,  that  he  is  not  now  contributing,  and  he  will  not  contribute,  to  Sunday 


Fifteenth  International  Convcntioji.  297 

newspapers;  and  where  he  stands  the  other  officers  of  the  United  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  stand. 

Furthermore,  another  good  friend  writes  that  he  has  seen  in  the  public  press 
that  a  delegation  of  Christian  Endeavorers  from  New  England  left  home  last 
Sunday  to  come  to  this  Convention,  and  that  another  delegation  from  the  West 
arrived  here  and  spent  last  Sunday  in  excursions  to  some  of  your  places  of  inter- 
est. I  want  to  say  that  the  tickets  held  by  these  Christian  Endeavorers  are 
excursion  tickets  from  the  New  England  States,  and  that  they  were  not  good 
for  passage  until  last  Monday.  They  could  not  be  used  on  Sunday.  I  want 
to  say  that  the  excursion  tickets  from  the  West  were  not  good  in  the  territory 
of  the  Trunk  Line  Association  until  last  Monday  morning;  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  any  of  our  Christian  Endeavorers  paid  double  fare  from  their  homes  in 
order  to  take  a  little  horse-car  excursion  in  the  city  of  Washington. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  believe  even  everything  that  is  published  in  the 
newspapers  in  Washington.  So  don't  get  worried  about  these  things.  Don't 
think  the  whole  Christian  Endeavor  movement  has  gone  over  to  the  enemy  be- 
cause some  newspaper  may  happen  to  make  a  mistake  ;  don't  think,  either,  that 
every  man  or  woman  wearing  a  Christian  Endeavor  badge  on  the  streets  of 
Washington  is  a  Christian  Endeavorer.  Some  of  them  may  have  been  able  to 
get  badges.  I  want  some  other  card  of  membership,  or  certificate  of  member- 
ship, than  the  mere  fact  that  these  people  are  wearing  Christian  Endeavor 
badges.  Everybody  in  Washington  is  so  proud  of  Christian  Endeavor  that 
they  would  all  like  to  wear  a  badge,  whether  they  deserve  it  or  not.  If  you  see 
anybody  disgracing  the  cause  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  they  happen  to  wear 
the  badge,  don't  say  they  are  Christian  Endeavorers.  Rather  give  us  the  bene- 
fit of  the  doubt,  if  there  is  one,  and  don't  go  off  and  sit  down  under  the  juniper- 
tree  and  mourn  for  the  depravity  of  the  young  people  in  these  days. 

There  are  no  stronger,  more  enthusiastic  observers  of  the  Sabbath  Day,  and 
none  that  stand  with  a  stiffer  backbone  for  God's  holy  day,  than  our  Christian 
Endeavor  members. 

Address  of  Mrs.  Henry  T.  Mc  Ewen,  New  York  City. 

It  is  as  significant  as  it  is  important  that  God  no  sooner  founded  the  home 
than  he  instituted  the  Sabbath.  The  intimate  relation  between  the  home  and 
the  Sabbath  is  woman's  justification  for  being  the  Sabbath's  defender. 

The  evening  of  the  sixth  day  witnessed  the  completion  of  God's  creative 
work.  The  home  was  its  consummation.  The  morning  of  the  seventh  day 
dawned  not  for  toil,  but  for  rest.  God,  who  instituted  the  Sabbath,  himself  ob- 
served it.  What  a  perfect  day — the  earth  without  sin,  the  curse  unknown!  It 
was  the  foregleam  of  that  "  rest  which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God." 

That  man  would  fall,  and  that  he  would  have  to  earn  his  bread  in  the  sweat 
of  his  brow,  did  not  surprise  God.  The  Creator  knew  man's  possibilities  and 
limitations.  Six  days  of  the  continuous  toil  in  the  arduous  struggle  for  bread 
was  all  that  the  human  frame  could  endure.  In  the  battle  of  life,  the  needs  of 
the  body  would  stifle  the  cry  of  the  soul.  The  physical  would  be  provided  for 
at  the  expense  of  the  spiritual.  For  these  reasons  God  ordained  that  the  Sab- 
bath should  be  observed  by  man.  The  body  needed  it  for  rest ;  the  soul,  for 
worship. 

God  penned  the  fourth  commandment  "for  the  whole  man,  for  all  races,  for 
all  times.  During  the  centuries  since  creation  man's  nature  has  not  changed. 
We  have  the  same  weak  bodies  and  tempted  souls  which  were  the  portion  of 
Adam  and  Eve.  Our  physical  and  our  spiritual  natures  must  be  renewed  to 
live.  The  observance  of  this  commandment  conditioned  man's  existence  at 
the  beginning,  and  will  condition  it  to  the  end.  "Remember"  is  employed 
to  recall  the  past,  guard  the  present,  and  secure  the  future.  Sabbath  desecra- 
tion means  individual  and  national  desolation.  It  was  not  vengeance  but 
mercy  which  dealt  sternly  with  the  gatherer  of  sticks  on  the  Sabbath.  "  Better 
that  one  should  die,  than  that  the  whole  nation  should  perish."  Of  all  the 
peoples  of  that  time,  the  Hebrews  are  the  only  ones  who   have  survived  the 


298  Official  Report  of  the 

shock  of  centuries.  Sabbath  observance  has  to  do  with  national  perpetuity  as 
well  as  with  individual  purity.  Benedictions  followed  the  keeping  of  this  cov- 
enant as  surely  as  curses  its  violation. 

Christ  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  but  to  fulfil  it.  To  fulfil  means  to  fill 
full,  or  to  fill  completely.  Did  Christ  fill  full  this  law.''  We  find  that  his  cus- 
tom was  to  be  in  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  Day,  engaged  in  worship.  He 
also  fills  up  the  law  with  acts  of  mercy.  He  wrought  seven  miracles  on  the 
Sabbath.  Three  of  these  were  performed  in  the  synagogues.  Two  were  to 
heal  women.  Acts  of  necessity  were  justified  by  the  Master.  He  had  no  cen- 
sure but  rather  approval  for  the  disciples  who,  as  they  walked  through  the 
fields  on  the  Sabbath,  plucked  the  heads  of  grain,  rubbing  them  out  in  their 
hands.  It  was  he  who  said,  "The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath."  Falling  from  his  lips  these  words  meant  for  all  men,  as 
opposed  to  any  class  or  portion  of  men,  and  they  meant  for  the  whole,  or  eniire 
man,  as  opposed  to  any  portion  thereof.  Underneath  each  jacket  two  natures 
struggle  in  mighty  combat.  Subordination  or  supremacy,  rather  than  co-ordi- 
nation and  co-operation,  seem  to  be  the  watchwords  of  these  combatants.  Even 
Paul  found  that  when  he  would  do  good  evil  was  present  with  him.  Man's 
soul  is  as  surely  related  to  God  as  his  body  to  the  earth.  Outdoor  sports  with 
siren  voice  are  luring  him  to  mountain  and  sea;  science,  art,  literature,  stimu- 
late his  intellect;  "  But  what  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  should  gain  the  whole 
world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  1  Or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
soul?"  Trained  body  and  disciplined  mind  must  be  crowned  by  sanctified 
soul,  if  you  are  to  have  the  complete  man.  Starving  the  spiritual,  in  order 
that  you  may  surfeit  the  carnal,  is  demon's,  not  divine,  work.  He  would  be  a 
generous  master  who  gave  six-sevenths  to  his  servants  and  retained  one-seventh 
for  himself.  What  shall  we  say  to  this  Master  who  not  only  gives  us  six- 
sevenths  as  our  own,  but  would  give  us  back,  fuller  in  measure  and  richer  in 
kind,  even  this  one-seventh,  when  we  hallow  it  to  him.  God  did  not  make  the 
Sabbath  for  God,  but  for  man,  the  highest,  noblest,  truest,  completest  man. 

Sabbath  desecration  is  not  merely  robbing  God  of  his  glory  ;  it  is  even  more 
surely  robbing  man  of  his  perfection.  Esau,  selling  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of 
pottage,  was  afar-seeing  and  wise  man  in  comparison  with  those  who  for  pleas- 
ures of  body  barter  the  wealth  of  the  soul. 

Alarmed  at  the  prevalent  and  growing  Sabbath  desecration,  and  knowing 
that  it  imperilled  the  home,  as  well  as  the  Church  and  the  nation,  a  number  of 
women  of  several  Christian  denominations  met  in  the  Calvary  Baptist  Church, 
New  York  City,  Dec.  lo,  1894. 

Several  phases  of  Sabbath  observance  were  discussed,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  consider  a  plan  by  which  women  might  unite  to  secure  a  bet- 
ter observance  of  the  Lord's  Day.  After  deliberation  the  Women's  National 
Sabbath  Alliance  was  organized,  a  constitution  adopted,  and  officers  chosen. 
Our  honored  president,  Mrs.  Darwin  R.James,  has  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  all  Christian  women.  There  are  eleven  vice-presidents,  representing  as 
many  denominations.     Christian  Union  and  co-operation  are  thus  realized. 

All  who  become  members  of  the  Alliance  subscribe  to  the  following 
pledge :  — 

We,  women  of  America,  recogfnizing'  the  American  Christian  Sabbath  as  our  rightful  inherit- 
ance, bequeathed  to  us  by  our  forefathers,  as  the  foundation  of  our  national  prosperity,  as  the 
safeguard  of  our  social,  civil,  and  religious  blessings,  as  the  conservator  of  the  rights  of  the  wage- 
earner,  do  hereby  pledge  ourselves  to  resist,  by  precept  and  example,  whatever  tends  to  under- 
mine Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  and  worship;  such  as  the  Sunday  secular  newspaper,  Sunday 
social  entertainments,  and  Sunday  driving  or  travelling  for  gain  or  pleasure;  and  we  further 
pledge  ourselves  to  use  our  influence  to  create  a  right  sentiment  on  all  aspects  of  the  Sunday 
question,  especially  in  reference  to  traffic  of  every  kind  on  that  day. 

Pioneer  work  is  never  easy.  Crowns  succeed,  they  never  precede,  triumph- 
We  have,  however,  been  encouraged  by  the  cordial  response  we  have  received 
from  Christian  women  in  different  States  throughout  the  Union.  Our  aim  is 
to  form  auxiliaries  in  every  city  and  town,  that  our  personal,  united  effort  may 
be  felt  by  those  who  profane  the  Sabbath,     In  order  that  all  Christian  people 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  299 

may  be  alert  to  the  peril  and  opportunity  of  the  Sabbath,  we  desire  every  min- 
ister to  preach  on  this  theme.  We  realize  that  every  woman  in  America  is  an 
uncrowned  queen.  Her  subjects  are  numerous  and  loyal.  To  render  her  reign 
beneficent  is  our  desire.  Said  a  gentleman  not  long  since,  "  Your  pledge  is 
almost  as  strict  as  the  traditions  of  the  Pharisees.  I  take  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  as  my  rule  of  life,  and  in  it  I  do  not  find  any  Sabbath-keeping  enjoined. 
I  think  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man." 

How  can  he  read,  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God," 
and  forget  the  Sabbath,  instituted  by  God  to  bring  him  near  to  God.?  Do  we 
find  either  God  or  purity  in  the  Sunday  newspapers.?  Are  we  made  purer  by 
the  Sunday  concert,  baseball  game,  or  so-called  popular  amusements?  Do 
we  go  there  to  meet  or  catch  a  vision  of  God?  How  can  he  read,  "  Blessed  are 
the  merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy,"  whilst  he  demands  that  his  Sunday 
dinner-table  shall  be  supplied  with  oysters  on  the  half  shell,  or  that  the  con- 
fectioner shall  deliver  his  desserts  on  the  Sabbath  ?  By  what  right,  human  or 
divine,  does  he  deprive  others  of  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath  that  his  creature  com- 
forts may  be  supplied  ?  How  can  he  read,  "  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled,"  when  selfishness  is  his 
controlling  motive?  Is  it  necessary,  or  merciful,  that  the  post-office  be  open 
on  the  Sabbath,  or  that  letters  be  delivered? 

Christian  women  wield  an  influence  which  can  not  be  weighed  or  measured. 
Not  only  can  this  influence  be  felt  in  our  homes,  but  in  business  and  social  cir- 
cles American  women  possess  a  power  not  felt  in  other  lands.  What  Drum- 
mond  says  is  pre-eminently  true  of  America:  "  Christianity  is  not  all  carried  on 
by  committees,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  has  other  ways  of  coming  than 
through  municipal  reforms.  Most  of  the  stones  for  the  building  of  the  city  of 
God,  and  all  the  best  of  them,  are  made  by  mothers."  But  true  as  this  is  and 
ever  must  be,  it  is  not  less  true  that  the  number  of  business,  professional,  and 
laboring  women  outside  of  the  homes  is  increasing  with  every  year.  The 
Union  Signal  is  responsible  for  the  following  very  significant  statements :  "  In 
this  country  2,500  women  are  practising  medicine,  275  are  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel, more  than  6,000  are  managing  post-ofiices,  and  over  3,000,000  are  earning 
independent  incomes.  Since  18S0  the  patent  office  has  granted  over  2,500 
patents  to  women,  and  in  New  York  City  27,000  women  support  their  husbands." 

Women  of  vast  wealth   have   a  responsibility  entrusted  to  them.     Said  a 

clergyman  not  long  since,  "  Mrs. owns  a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock 

of  the  mines  in  which  my  people  work.  I  can  not  get  suitable  elders  for  my 
church,  because  the  mines  are  operated  on  Sunday,  and  my  men  must  either 

work  or  leave.     Mrs. is  a  Christian  woman,  and  I  can  not  believe  that  she 

knows  of  or  comprehends  this."  How  can  Christian  women  oblige  others  to 
do  unnecessary  work  on  the  Sabbath,  or  themselves  set  the  fashion  by  enter- 
taining, or  attending,  dinners,  teas,  and  receptions  on  the  Sabbath  ? 

Of  the  one  hundred  thousand  who,  according  to  the  New  York  Herald,  were 
out  on  their  wheels,  in  Greater  New  York,  Sunday,  June  21,  do  you  suppose 
that  all  were  Hebrews,  or  that  they  all  belong  to  the  so-called  working  classes? 
A  recent  number  of  the  L.  A.  W.  Bulletin  says,  "Those  who  are  disposed 
to  decry  Sunday  wheeling  should  remember  that  the  first  Christian  Sabbath 
was  the  occasion  of  a  Sunday  outing  and  a  discourse  on  the  way  by  the 
founder  of  Christianity.  No  one  would  now  venture  to  doubt  but  that,  if 
Cleopas  and  his  companion  had  possessed  bicycles  they  would  have  ridden 
them  that  spring  day  on  their  journey  of  threescore  furlongs  to  Emmaus." 
Why  did  not  the  writer  tell  the  whole  truth,  instead  of  a  half  of  the  truth, 
which  is  often  the  worst  type  of  a  lie?  Did  he  not  know  that  the  apostles  and 
disciples  so  strictly  observed  the  Sabbath  that  not  even  one  of  them  went  to 
the  tomb  in  which  their  Master's  body  lay  that  sacred  day?  As  the  women 
hurried  along  that  memorable  morning  of  the  resurrection  they  do  not  even 
seem  to  have  known  that  Pilate  had  placed  a  Roman  guard  and  fixed  the  seal. 
Cleopas  and  his  companion  were  not  desecrating  the  Sabbath  by  walking  to 
Emmaus.  Not  till  the  Sabbath  was  past  did  their  Master  rise  from  the  dead. 
It  was  to  complete  a  hasty  and  imperfect  burial  that  the  women  hurried  to  the 


300  Official  Report  of  the 

tomb  that  early  morning.  Not  even  their  devotion  to  Christ  could  lead  them 
to  break  the  Sabbath  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  hitherto  kept.  If  you 
are  a  Hebrew,  and  devoutly  keep  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  we  shall  not  question 
your  Sabbath  observance;  or  if  you  are  a  Christian  and  keep  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  we  shall  be  satisfied;  but  that  to  which  we  object  is  that  you  are  a 
Gentile  on  Saturday,  and  a  Hebrew  on  Sunday,  thus  violating  both  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  Sabbath.  The  day  is  thus  turned  into  one  of  revel,  instead  of 
rest;  it  is  made  to  minister  to  selfishness,  instead  of  holiness.  If  we  should 
read  in  to-morrow's  papers  of  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  fainting 
at  their  work  for  lack  of  food,  a  cry  of  horror  and  anguish  would  be  heard. 
Purses  would  open,  hands  and  hearts  would  be  busy  supplying  the  need.  Yet 
to-morrow  thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  will  fall  under  the  strain  and 
stress  of  temptation  because  their  souls  have  not  been  fed.  Shame  on  a  peo- 
ple's conscience  where  to  starve  is  more  awful  than  sin ! 

"  Keep  your  conscience  pure,  untainted, 
Be  existence  short  or  long  ; 
Hold  aloft  the  golden  watchword, 
Love  of  right  and  scorn  of  wrong." 

It  is  a  siege,  not  a  skirmish,  which  we  have  undertaken.  To  the  women  we 
appeal  against  the  Continental,  in  behalf  of  the  Christian,  Sabbath.  "  Who 
knoweth  but  that  thou  art  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this?  "  was 
the  challenge  with  which  Mordecai  aroused  Queen  Esther.  Her  sacrifice  and 
heroism  saved  a  nation.  If  we  rescue  the  Sabbath,  we  shall  have  saved  a 
nation. 

Address  of  Rev.  J.  B.  Davison,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Everybody  knows  that  a  broad  chasm  separates  a  large  portion  of  the  wage- 
earners  from  Christianity.  It  may  not  be  deeper  than  in  former  years,  but  it  is 
there.     I  ask  you  to  consider  two  propositions  in  reference  to  this  chasm. 

1.  The  Sabbath  has  been  made  one  occasion  of  this  terrible  chasm. 

2.  The  Sabbath  is  a  bridge  over  this  chasm  by  which  these  wage-earners 
may  be  led  to  find  and  know  Christ. 

The  Sabbath  is  the  most  prominent  outward  representative  of  Christianity. 
Satan  has  so  bewildered  his  servants'  eyes  that  the  Sabbath  has  seemed  to 
them  a  hobgoblin,  full  of  gloom  and  evil  forebodings.  Looking  through  this 
distorted  vision  of  the  Sabbath  at  the  Church,  the  Christian  religion,  and  even 
heaven  itself,  they  have  all  seemed  to  many  sombre  and  forbidding.  A  refined 
lady  said  to  me,  "  I  used  to  think  if  heaven  was  an  eternal  Sabbath  I  never 
wished  to  go  there." 

Some  of  us  have  often  looked  or  talked  as  though  the  Sabbath  were  a  dull, 
gloomy  burden.  The  joy  of  the  Lord  has  not  so  filled  our  souls  as  to  shine  out 
of  our  faces  and  ring  out  of  our  speech.  So  we  have  led  men  to  think  Sabbath- 
keeping  is  probably  a  duty  essential  to  salvation;  but  it  is  awfully  dull.  So, 
while  they  hope  to  keep  their  last  Sabbath  holy,  and  would  not  wish  to  go  fish- 
ing that  day,  they  prefer  to  put  off  such  evil  days,  and  with  them  they  put  off 
Christianity. 

Again,  some  Christians  have  gone  to  church  while  their  employees  in  the 
factory  or  kitchen  were  bound  to  incessant,  needless  toil,  and  so  were  taught 
to  hate  the  Sabbath  and  the  Church.  Many  who  would  not  do  this  individually 
have  been  partners  in  the  same  iniquity  as  members  of  a  corporation.  Others, 
by  riding  on  Sunday  trains,  going  to  the  post-office  Sunday,  taking  Sunday 
papers,  asking  that  their  freight  be  carried  on  Sunday,  or  in  other  similar  ways 
have  helped  to  hold  in  bondage  to  greedy  employers  and  a  thoughtless  public 
millions  whose  bodies,  brains,  and  souls  cry  out  for  release  from  this  Sunday 
slavery. 

Some  Christians  have  said,  "  I  keep  my  employees  at  work  Sunday  to  prevent 
them  from  doing  something  worse."  Others  refuse  to  help  release  men  from 
Sunday  slavery  lest  they  may  not  use  their  freedom  rightly.  Dare  a  Christian 
thus  excuse  his  own  disobedience  to  God  and  his  cruelty  to  his  neighbor.? 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  301 

Again,  many  Christian  communities  have  allowed  saloons,  theatres,  etc.,  to 
run  wide  open  Sunday,  inviting  multitudes  to  ruin.  In  these  and  other  ways  has 
this  memorial  of  the  resurrection  been  perverted  into  a  means  of  opening  and 
widening  the  terrible  chasm  between  tlie  sons  of  toil  and  their  loving  Heav- 
enly Father.     One  of  God's  chief  blessings  is  thus  turned  into  a  curse. 

It  must  be  restored  to  its  original  beauty  and  glory.  Then  will  it  be  a  bridge 
over  the  foul  chasm  of  unbelief,  upon  which  thousands  of  wage-earners  shall 
be  led  up  from  the  dark  morass  of  discontent  into  the  sunlight,  hope,  and  joy 
of  God's  love.  There  will  they  learn  to  know  the  tender  heart  of  the  Carpenter 
of  Galilee,  and  be  awakened  to  a  full  consciousness  of  their  own  manhood, 
their  dignity  as  sons  and  daughters  of  God,  co-workers  with  Jesus,  and  heirs  of 
heaven. 

The  consciousness  of  the  need  of  rest,  and  the  yearning  for  something 
higher,  nobler,  are  clearing  away  the  mists  by  which  Satan  has  hid  God's  true 
Sabbath  frt)m  these  toilers,  wearied,  well-nigh  crushed  under  the  daily  grind  of 
machinery  and  trade.  And,  lo !  they  see  in  it  one  of  their  best  friends.  In 
their  own  bodies,  nerves,  brains,  homes,  yea,  their  whole  social  and  moral  na- 
ture, they  are  reading  this  unchanging  law:  Rest  thou  one  day  in  seven,  or 
suffer — suffer  in  shattered  health,  nerve,  and  brain,  shortened  life,  shadowed 
home,  and  weakened  moral  power.  They  see  that  on  this  law,  as  positive  and 
irrevocable  as  the  law  of  gravitation,  as  its  solid  foundations,  rests  the  lower 
end  of  this  bridge  of  divinely  appointed  Sunday  rest.  On  this  bridge  that 
leads  up  over  this  chasm  toward  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  yea,  toward  God 
himself,  thousands  of  the  wage-earners  are  seeking  to  plant  their  feet. 

Six  years  ago  the  barbers  in  Cleveland  commenced  to  demand  Sunday  rest, 
and  persevered  till,  by  special  State  law,  it  was  made  such  to  all  barbers  in 
Ohio.  Later,  the  barbers  of  Chicago  have  struggled  vigorously  for  the  same 
blessing.  Recently  the  grain  shovelers  of  Buffalo  struck,  demanding  Sunday 
rest  and  payment  of  wages  somewhere  else  than  in  the  saloon.  The  whole 
country  knows  how  the  retail  clerks  of  Chicago  have  pleaded  and  worked  for 
Sunday  rest.  These  are  only  samples  of  the  way  God's  Spirit  is  awakening 
wage-earners  all  over  the  land. 

In  my  Milwaukee  home  the  retail  clerks  are  in  the  midst  of  a  similar  strug- 
gle. For  twenty  years  all  Sunday  laws  had  been  a  dead  letter  in  the  city,  with 
no  attempt  at  enforcement.  Fifteen  hundred  saloons  were  wide  open.  More  than 
nine-tenths  of  all  classes  of  retail  stores  were  open  a  large  part  of  every  Sabbath. 
More  than  ten  thousand  men  were  engaged  in  Sunday  work.  Lady  clerks,  as  well 
as  gentlemen,  after  standing  behind  the  counters  eighty  hours  in  six  days,  were 
compelled  to  stand  there  several  more  hours  on  Sunday.  They  found  it  was 
killing  them.  They  organized,  they  discussed,  they  agitated,  they  pleaded  with 
their  employers,  till  more  than  ninety  per  cent  agreed  to  close.  A  few  refusing^ 
seemed  almost  to  compel  all.  Their  only  hope  of  safety  was  in  appeal  to  the 
law  to  compel  the  few.  They  found  that,  as  Horace  Greeley  said,  "  The  law  of 
rest  for  all  is  essential  to  the  liberty  of  rest  for  any."  The  week  after  the 
"  world's  week  of  prayer  for  the  Lord's  Day,"  which  President  Clark  invited  all 
Christians  to  observe,  a  merchant  was  found  guilty  by  the  jury  of  violating 
Sunday  law.  That  same  week  our  (Governor  ordered  that  the  State  militia 
should  cease  their  long-time  habit  of  going  to  and  from  camp  on  Sunday. 
Now  the  liquor  power  is  seeking  to  thrust  their  clerks  back  into  bondage; 
but,  mark  this  fact,  the  Federated  Labor  Union  of  our  city  proposed  to  help 
these  clerks.  It  was  referred  to  all  the  unions  of  the  different  trades,  dis- 
cussed in  each,  and  then  the  Federated  Labor  Union  voted  $50  to  help  these 
clerks  win  their  case  in  court.  Remember,  most  of  the  members  of  these 
unions  are  Germans.  Are  not  our  working  men  climbing  out  of  their  darkness 
onto  this  bridge  of  Sunday  rest  1 

This  is  especially  true  of  the  railroad  men.  To  the  World's  Congress  in 
Chicago  came  Hon.  L.  S.  Coffin,  sent  by  one  hundred  thousand  railway  employ- 
ees, to  plead  in  their  behalf  for  the  abolition  of  Sunday  traffic.  Thirty  thousand 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  Trainmen  said,  "  We  believe  the  Sabbath  a  God-given 
blessing  to  the  laboring  man,  and  when  its  hours  are  encroached  upon  by  the 


302  Official  Report  of  the 

greed  of  capital  we  would  be  less  than  free  men  if  we  did  not  enter  our  earnest 
protest;  and  we  do  trust  a  thougiiiful  and  Christian  public,  and  the  corporations 
we  are  connected  with,  will  accord  to  us  this  rest  day  as  our  imperative  need 
and  our  most  sacred  right." 

Twenty-two  thousand  railroad  conductors  said,  "We  believe  when  this 
day  is  secured  and  used  as  the  best  good  of  each  demands,  it  becomes  the  im- 
passable barrier  to  the  encroachments  of  capital  upon  the  rights  of  labor." 

The  locomotive  engineers  said  to  Vanderbilt:  "This  great  strain  of  mental 
and  physical  faculties  constantly  employed  impairs  the  requisites  necessary  to 
make  a  good  engineer.  Troubled  in  mind,  jaded  and  worn  out  in  body,  the 
engineer  can  not  give  his  duties  the  attention  they  should  have.  Give  us  the 
Sabbath  for  rest  after  one  week  of  laborious  duties  and  we  pledge  you  that, 
with  a  system  invigorated  by  a  season  of  repose,  with  a  brain  eased  and 
cleared  by  hours  of  relaxation,  we  can  go  to  work  with  more  energy,  more 
mental  and  physical  force,  and  can  do  more  and  better  work  in  six  days  than 
we  now  do  in  seven." 

The  leading  organ  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  is  demanding  not  merely  talk, 
but  united  action  to  secure  rest  on  the  Sabbath  for  the  laboring  classes. 

The  editor  of  The  Outlook  finds  the  women  in  tne  tenement-house  districts 
of  New  York,  generally,  crying,  "God  bless  the  men  who  try  to  close  the 
saloons  Sunday."  One  said,  "  I  tell  you,  we  are  living  a  new  life  here.  Chil- 
dren who  have  never  seen  their  fathers  sober  on  Sunday  see  them  at  home 
sober  every  Sunday  now.  Women  who  have  never  before  since  their  marriage 
seen  their  husbands  sober  on  Sunday  pray  to  God  on  their  knees,  '  Bless  the 
men  who  shut  up  those  places  that  made  hells  of  our  homes.' " 

Truly,  the  wage-earners  are  crowding  the  lower  end  of  this  bridge.  But  we 
must  not  let  them  stop  there.  They  need  God's  soul-rest  still  more  than  rest  of 
body.  They  need  a  day  to  get  acquainted  with  wife  and  children.  They  need 
still  more  a  day  to  get  acquainted  with  God,  and  learn  the  joy  of  talking  with 
him.  So,  then,  the  bridge  must  reach  clear  across  the  chasm,  and  have  a  solid 
abutment  on  this  side. 

That  abutment  must  be  God's  law  of  holy  rest  shining  through  the  lives  of 
his  people,  making  them  radiant  with  joy  in  God  and  love  to  their  fellow  men. 
It  is  our  business,  fellow  Endeavorers,  to  furnish  this  abutment,  and  to  lead 
these  masses  clear  over  the  bridge  into  the  liberty  of  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
Almighty. 

I.  We  must  do  this  by  our  example.  When  God  s  truth  is  translated  into 
and  shines  through  human  life,  it  becomes  a  living  power.  We  can  not  win 
men  over  the  bridge  unless  they  see  the  Sabbath  law  dominating  our  lives  and 
making  the  day  to  us  intensely  holy  and  happy.  While  we  have  any  fellow- 
ship with  such  unfruitful  works  of  darkness  as  Sunday  papers,  trade,  or  trains, 
we  can  not  help  the  slaves  of  Sunday  toil  to  see  the  beauty  of  rest  in  God. 

2.  Wlaen  our  hearts  love,  and  otir  lives  honor,  the  Sabbath,  we  can  begin 
to  educate  the  masses,  American  and  foreign  —  especially  foreign.  Ignorance 
and  prejudice  are  the  chief  causes  of  opposition  to  a  true  Sabbath  and  to  Sab- 
bath laws.  The  light  of  truth  will  scatter  these,  and  that  only.  The  majority 
of  non-church-goers  have  even  yet  no  clear  idea  on  these  matters. 

Great  care  should  be  taken  to  enlighten  all  the  people  as  to  the  close  rela- 
tion of  the  Sabbath  to  the  foundation,  growth,  and  safety  of  our  Republic,  and 
as  to  the  reasons  why  Sabbath  laws  are  needed.  Thousands  suppose  they  are 
merely  to  upbuild  the  Church  and  to  promote  religion.  All  good  laws  promote 
religion,  but  that  is  not  the  purpose  of  Sunday  laws  any  more  than  of  other  laws. 
Their  purpose  is  to  protect  liberty,  health,  home,  and  character,  and  thus  pro- 
mote national  prosperity.  Sunday  laws  require  nothing  religious.  They  pro- 
tect one's  right  to  rest,  and  give  him  a  chance  to  worship  God,  if  he  wishes,  or 
to  refrain  from  all  worship,  if  he  so  prefers. 

3.  Again,  if  we  would  lead  these  toiling  masses  over  the  chasm,  we  must 
get  very  near  them.  We  must  know  their  heart-throbs.  Through  our  sym- 
pathy they  must  feel  the  sympathy  of  Christ. 

4,  We  must  help  them  secure  justice  and  fair  play.    Especially  must  we 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  303 

help  them  secure  universal  half-holidays  every  week, —  one-half  day  for  home, 
nature,  and  physical  recreation ;  one  whole  day  for  God,  home,  and  soul-growth. 
In  every  practicable  way  help  them  secure  a  chance  for  Sunday  rest.  Stand  by 
every  business  man  who  closes  store  or  factory  Sunday.  Patronize  him  as  far 
as  possible.  Bring  all  possible  pressure  to  bear  on  any  who  refuse  to  close. 
Make  clear  the  mischief  of  Sunday  amusements  to  man  and  the  State. 

Elect  true  men  to  office,  and  stand  by  them  when  elected.  Awaken  the 
public  to  demand  of  every  officer  the  fulfilment  of  his  sworn  obligation  to  be 
true  to  God  and  man. 

Finally  I  call  upon  you  all  gathered  in  our  nation's  capital,  Hear  the  cry  of 
the  millions  in  the  mail  and  railway  service,  and  awaken  the  people  all  over  the 
land  to  persistently  demand  that  our  government  cease  to  defy  God  by  com- 
pelling its  citizens  to  trample  on  the  law  of  God  and  the  State  by  rushing  Sun- 
day mail-trains  all  over  the  nation  and  opening  a  post-office  in  almost  every 
city  and  town.  This  is  the  main  root  of  our  nation's  Sunday  lawlessness, 
watered,  it  is  true,  by  the  saloon  and  some  of  the  foreign  immigration.  But  for 
this  main  root  we,  the  people,  are  directly  responsible.  The  Sunday  post-office 
led  to  the  Sunday  store,  and  the  Sunday  mail  to  the  Sunday  trains  and  papers, 
all  which  threaten  the  destruction  of  Church  and  nation. 

Gen.  A.  S.  Diven,  thirty  years  manager  on  the  Erie  Railroad,  said,  "  The 
refrigerator-car  removed  the  last  excuse  for  a  Sunday  train."  Vanderbilt  said, 
"Though  one  great  road  can  not  stop  alone,  all  roads  can  stop  together  with  no 
damage."  No  train,  unless  it  be  a  short  early  milk-train,  can  have  any  reason- 
able excuse.  Sterilized  milk  is  likely  soon  to  do  away  with  all  necessity  for 
that. 

Shall  we  sit  still  and  let  our  nation  go  on  crushing  the  life  out  of  these  mil- 
lions.-' Let  us  speak  in  behalf  of  the  bill  to  stop  Sunday  mail  and  interstate 
commerce  with  a  voice  that  shall  be  heard  through  the  whole  nation.  Let  us 
go  home  and  arouse  every  philanthropist  to  cry  out,  "Let  these  millions  go 
free  and  enjoy  God's  rest.  Give  them  a  chance  to  rise  up  to  the  highest  man- 
hood." Such  a  law  would  free  nearly  as  many  from  slavery  as  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation,  and  be  as  great  a  blessing  to  the  nation.  Shall  we  here 
and  now  swear  eternal  warfare  against  this  and  every  other  form  of  Sunday 
slavery  1 

Address  of  Rev,  Alexander  Alison,  D.D.,  New  York  City. 

The  Sabbath  Day,  day  of  rest,  cease  day,  or  day  of  cessation  from  earthly 
toil,  is  a  very  old  institution.  It  is  older  than  our  country,  older  than  Christian- 
ity, older  than  Judaism.  It  is  older  than  the  Ten  Commandments,  for  there  it 
is  said,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  Day  to  keep  it  holy."  That  word  "  remem- 
ber" is  significant.  The  implication  clearly  is  that  that  which  is  here  enjoined 
was  before  the  enactment  concerning  it  which  was  written  by  the  finger  of  God 
upon  the  tables  of  stone.  The  fact  is  that  the  Sabbath  is  older  than  human 
sin.  It  was  given  to  man  prior  to  the  fall.  It  has,  therefore,  survived  the 
tragedy  of  Eden.  In  Gen.  ii.  2,3,  we  read,  "And  on  the  seventh  day  God 
ended  his  work  which  he  had  made ;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all 
his  work  which  he  had  made.  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sancti- 
fied it,  because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God  had  created 
and  made." 

There  is  a  craze  in  these  days  for  the  old,  the  ancient,  the  antique.  Talk 
about  the  antique  !  We  surely  have  it  here.  The  oldest  institutions  we  have 
are  the  family  relation  and  the  day  of  rest.  But  some  one  says  it  was  the 
"seventh  day  which  God  sanctified  and  blest,  not  the  first  day  of  the  week." 
Look  closely  at  the  passage,  "  God  re.sted  on  the  seventh  day  of  his  own  work." 
On  what  day  were  Adam  and  Eve  created  ?  Was  it  not  on  the  sixth  day  of 
the  creation  period  .''  What  was  the  first  day  of  Adam  and  Eve's  earthly  exist- 
ence ?  Was  it  not  the  day  following  the  sixth  day  of  the  creation  ?  What  day 
was  this  ?  Was  it  not  the  Sabbath  Day .''  What,  then,  was  the  first  day  of  the 
human  week?     Was  it  not  the  Sabbath  Day?    Adam  was  appointed  to  work, 


304  Official  Report  of  the 

was  he  not?  Read  the  verse,  Gen.  ii.  15,  "And  the  Lord  God  took  the  man, 
and  put  him  into  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it."  Adam,  in  a 
perfect  state,  was  not  to  be  an  idler ;  but  he  is  not  to  begin  his  week  of  work 
in  the  garden  until  he  has  first  enjoyed  a  Sabbath  Day.  The  first  day,  there- 
fore, of  the  human  week  is  the  day  of  sanctified  rest. 

After  that,  six  days  of  honest  toil.  Then  the  first  day  of  the  second  week  is 
a  Sabbath,  and  so  on.  Is  not  this  a  sweet  suggestion  of  the  time  to  come, 
when  the  first  day  of  the  week  would  be  formally,  technically,  and  ofiicially 
recognized  by  the  resurrection  of  our  blessed  Lord  as  the  first  day  of  the  be- 
ginning of  the  work  of  a  redemption  applied  to  man's  salvation?  The  Sabbath 
Day,  then,  is  a  day  to  be  revered.  It  is  the  one  day  that  is  dignified  as  the 
crown  of  creation.  It  precedes  man's  toil  as  it  succeeds  the  work  of  God. 
Again,  it  is  not  only  the  crown  of  the  creation,  but  it  is  the  crown  of  the  re-crea- 
tion. It  follows  the  divine  work  of  re-creation,  as  it  follows  the  divine  work 
of  creation.  If  it  could  be  said,  when  God  finished  the  natural  creation,  "  Be- 
hold, it  was  very  good,"  it  could  be  so  said  when  he  completed  the  work  of 
re-creation  or  redemption. 

If  we  really  appreciated  the  force  of  the  fourth  commandment,  we  would 
be  able  to  decipher  the  full  meaning  of  the  Saviour's  words  when  he  said, 
"  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  the  Sabbath."  The  day  of 
rest  is  essential  to  man's  highest  welfare.  It  is  essential  to  his  life  physically, 
mentally,  and  morally,  or  spiritually.  The  Sabbath  Day  he  can  not  get  along 
without.  One-seventh  of  the  time  he  needs.  France  tried  one-tenth.  What 
was  the  result?  In  answer,  the  epidemic  in  man  and  beast,  and  the  revolution, 
or  reign  of  terror. 

Voltaire,  the  brilliant  French  infidel,  spoke  like  a  philosopher  when  he  said, 
"  If  Christianity  shall  ever  perish  from  the  earth,  you  must  first  destroy  the 
Christian  Sabbath."  Another  Frenchman,  many  years  ago,  said  to  an  Ameri- 
can tourist,  "If  France  shall  continue  her  existence  as  a  nation,  she  must 
adopt  your  American  Sabbath." 

The  American  Sabbath  !  I  like  that  expression.  It  has  the  right  ring  to  it. 
There  is  an  American  Sabbath !  And  it  is  the  Bible  Sabbath,  too.  Our 
fathers  of  immortal  memory  brought  it  with  them  across  the  sea.  The  family 
relation,  the  Bible,  the  Lord's  Day,  —  these  three  were  brought  here  by  our  godly 
ancestors.  They  believed  in  this  blessed  trinity,  those  sturdy  pioneers.  And 
they  believed  in  it  so  thoroughly  that  they  were  prepared,  if  need  be,  to  die 
rather  than  surrender  it  to  the  advocates  of  a  false  philosophy  and  a  false 
religious  system. 

But  there  is  not  only  a  religious  side  to  the  subject  of  Sabbath  observance. 
There  is  also  a  secular  one.  We  have  a  right  to  make  and  to  enforce  human 
statutes  that  shall  call  for  the  observance  of  the  laws  of  God.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  have  in  every  State  in  the  Union  but  one  what  might  be  called  fairly 
good  Sabbath  laws.  One  State  has  repealed  its  laws  on  the  Sabbath.  We 
hope,  ere  long,  to  have  this  changed.  We  are  glad  the  showing  is  so  good  as 
it  is.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  laws  now  in  existence  are  enforced.  Public  senti- 
ment is  always  potential.  Christian  sentiment,  if  crystallized,  can  control  pub- 
lic sentiment  anywhere.  A  great  city  daily  recently  said  in  an  editorial,  "  If 
the  Christian  people  of  this  city  would  unite  as  touching  the  suppression  of  any 
evil  in  our  midst,  the  evil  could  be  crushed  in  a  month."  This  means  that  a 
united  Christian  sentiment  will  surely  constrain  the  newspapers  to  be  its  allies. 
They  know  the  power  of  united  Christian  sentiment.  The  trouble  is  with 
Christians,  that  they  differ  so  much  in  regard  to  methods  and  details. 

It  is  only  by  indifference  of  Christian  people,  a  sentiment  below  par  on  the 

Eart  of  our  Christian  people,  that  it  can  ever  be  possible  for  the  American  Sab- 
ath  to  be  in  danger. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  race  owes  everything  to  the  Sabbath.  What  is  the  great 
race  in  civilization?  Is  it  not  the  Anglo-Saxon?  Let  us  remember  that  no 
country  has  retrograded  where  the  commandment  "  Remember  the  Sabbath 
Day  to  keep  it  holy  "  has  been  sacredly  obeyed.  This  is  true  in  Great  Britain, 
New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  all  the  grand  old  States  of  the 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  305 

American  Union.  What  has  made  the  East  and  South  will  make  the  North 
and  West. 

There  are  portions  of  our  country  where  the  Sabbath  Day  is  the  worst  day 
in  the  week;  we  can  reverse  this  if  we  are  willing.  The  home  mission  prob- 
lem in  all  the  denominations  will  be  largely  solved  so  soon  as  Sabbath  laws 
are  enforced.  The  Sabbath  question  is  fundamental.  It  underlies  everything. 
If  the  Sabbath  goes,  so  does  the  Church,  the  Bible,  and  the  family.  Who  will 
care  to  go  to  church  or  read  the  Bible  if  the  Sabbath  becomes  a  dead  letter? 

Let  us  remember  that  man  is  more  than  animal.  He  is  made  in  the  image 
of  God.  The  beast  is  to  rest  one  day  in  seven.  The  fourth  commandment 
enjoins  this.  Man,  as  an  animal,  is  to  rest  also.  But  he  can  do  what  the 
beast  can  not.  He  can  enter  into  fellowship  with  his  Creator.  This  he  is  to  do 
on  the  Sabbath  Day.  He  is  not  only  to  rest  from  labor,  from  the  gathering  of 
his  daily  food,  the  manna,  on  the  Sabbath  Day,  but  he  is  to  worship  God. 

A  healthy  arousing  on  the  part  of  all  who  profess  to  be  followers  of  the  meek 
and  lowly  Jesus  will  in  the  next  decade  restore  our  fair  Republic  to  its  old-time 
devotion  to  Sabbath-keeping.  Then  shall  we  develop  a  true  and  abiding  pros- 
perity. Sabbath  observance  is  more  at  the  root  of  national  prosperity  than  any 
questions  of  tariff  or  finance.  Politicians  reason  out  along  their  own  lines  the 
way  to  good  times.  May  we  never  forget  that  God  only  is  the  true  statesman. 
He  holds  the  destinies  of  nations  in  his  hand.  His  sceptre  is  the  sceptre  of 
universal  dominion.  Hear  him,  as  he  says,"  Them  that  honor  me  I  will  honor; 
but  them  that  despise  me  I  will  lightly  esteem." 

Members  of  the  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  let  us  never  forget  that  he  who  fights  for 
God,  for  truth,  and  freedom,  shall  never  fight  in  vain. 

Address  of  Rev.  Wilbur  F.  Crafts,  Ph.D.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  centre  of  peril  and  of  hope  to-day  is  the  Sabbath,  the  citadel  of  Chris- 
tian morality.  One  of  our  chief  perils  is  in  the  breaches  made  in  that  citadel 
by  the  Sunday  papers,  the  Sunday  cycle,  and  the  Sunday  trolley.  One  of  our 
chief  hopes  is  in  the  re-enforcements  that  citadel  is  receiving  from  the  oncoming 
hosts  of  Christian  Endeavor. 

The  most  plausible  argument  against  the  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath 
is  the  specious  claim  that  "  the  complicated  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury" requires  that  Sabbath  observance  and  Sabbath  laws  should  be  relaxed. 
Nay,  this  is  a  new  reason  why  they  should  be  maintained  and  strengthened. 
Did  Adam,  to  whom  the  Sabbath  law  of  work  and  rest  was  given  before  the 
fall, —  did  he,  who  knew  nothing  of  "cut-throat  competition,"  and  "soulless 
corporations,"  and  "hard  masters,"  and  wearying  "tricks  of  trade,"  need  a 
Sabbath  law  more  than  we  do  to-day,  when  sin  has  put  its  curse  into  the  Edenic 
blessing  of  labor?  At  Sinai,  where  the  Sabbath  law  was  reproclaimed,  did 
those  Hebrew  herders,  moving  on  at  three  miles  an  hour,  need  a  law  to  protect 
them  against  the  overstrain  more  than  the  engineers  of  to-day,  who  drive  their 
iron  dragons  a  mile  a  minute  with  hand  on  the  throttle,  eye  on  the  track,  every 
power  alert?  Did  those  dozen  farmers  from  whose  social  plowing-bee  Elisha 
was  called  to  be  a  prophet, —  I  have  seen  in  that  region  a  modern  plowing-bee 
of  eighteen, —  did  those  farmers,  gossiping  together  as  they  kept  step  with  their 
slow  oxen,  need  a  Sabbath  law  more  than  the  motor-man  who  harnesses  the 
lightning  to  his  electric  car,  and  drives  through  crowded  city  streets,  where  a 
moment's  inattention  may  cause  the  loss  of  a  pedestrian's  life  and  his  own 
position? 

Turning  to  the  more  recent  times,  when  the  foundations  of  this  Republic 
were  laid  on  the  Bible,  the  Sabbath  being  assigned  a  prominent  place  among 
American  institutions,  did  our  fathers,  when  they  lived  half  a  mile  apart,  cur- 
tained at  night  with  the  soft  velvet  of  silence,  need  a  day  of  protected  quiet 
more  than  their  sons  in  the  tenements  of  to-day,  where  going  to  bed  at  night 
is  often  like  the  "charge  of  the  light  brigade," — noises  in  the  flat  above,  noises 
in  the  flat  at  the  right,  noises  in  the  flat  at  the  left,  noises  in  the  flat  below;  the 
high  fiddle-diddle  of  a  midnight  dance  on  the  floor  overhead;  the  crash  of  a 


306  Official  Report  of  the 

family  jar  just  beyond  the  wall  on  the  right ;  a  piano  through  the  wall  at  the 
left  making  love  on  that  side  and  hate  on  this  side  at  midnight;  while  the  flat 
below  does  its  share  in  the  torture  by  an  early  start  on  a  fishing-excursion 
to  murder  sleep  in  the  morning? 

When  nearly  all  the  work  was  in  the  open  air,  in  forest  and  field,  was  there 
more  need  to  protect  the  toilers' right  to  one  day's  release  from  labor,  than  now, 
when  many  thousands  work  at  night  and  in  the  mine,  and  thousands  more  in 
stifling  shops?  Is  there  more  excuse  for  keeping  thousands  toiling  on  the  Sun- 
day mail  now,  when  a  letter  is  carried  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in  five 
days,  than  in  our  fathers'  day,  when  such  a  journey  took  five  months  ?  Was 
there  less  excuse  for  our  fathers  to  issue  Sunday  papers  when  news  crossed  the 
Atlantic  in  two  months,  than  there  is  for  us,  when  the  news  of  Europe  reaches 
us  by  telegraph  the  day  before  it  happens?  More  than  ever  before,  we  should 
see  to  it  that  neither  ourselves  nor  others  cause  any  Sunday  work  except  of  ne- 
cessity or  mercy. 

Canada  leads  the  world  with  its  recent  votes  for  prohibition  and  non-secta- 
rian schools  and  rest  for  street-car  men.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  started  for  Chicago, 
and  told  my  wife  to  go  to  Halifax.  She  likes  to  go  there.  Halifax  is  the  upper 
end  in  that  contrast  of  cities.  Canadian  cities  are  nearer  heaven  than  any 
other  cities.  Toronto,  with  no  Sunday  papers,  no  Sunday  mails,  no  Sunday 
street-cars,  no  police  gazettes,  and  10,000  majority  for  prohibition,  is  more  than 
half  way  from  Old  Rome  to  the  Holy  City. 

But  it  would  tax  to  the  utmost  the  talents  of  the  professional  optimist,  who 
makes  himself  the  special  attorney  for  the  defence  of  the  present,  to  prove  that 
our  country  has  progressed  morally  in  this  last  third  of  the  century;  that  is, 
since  the  war.  l3uring  that  time  unimpeachable  statistics  show  that  the  con- 
sumption of  liquors,  and,  partly  as  an  outgrowth  of  that,  divorces  and  murders 
also,  have  increased  three  times  as  fast  as  the  population;  that,  as  additional 
outgrowths  of  the  liquor  increase,  lynchings,  labor  riots,  and  municipal  corrup- 
tion have  outrun,  in  our  land  and  time,  all  other  records.  A  recent  gathering 
of  physicians  from  all  parts  of  the  country  sadly  agreed  that  impurity,  another 
branch  of  that  same  trunk,  is  also  increasing  apace  in  all  our  States.  Most 
serious  of  all,  the  assault  upon  the  Sabbath  is  also  increasingly  effective  just 
when  its  walls  should  be  strongest  for  the  defence  and  rescue  of  imperilled 
morality. 

The  trouble  is  that  while  Sabbath  observance  as  a  personal  duty  is  more  or 
less  urged  by  the  churches,  the  Sabbath  as  a  social  institution,  which  mani- 
festly can  not  be  defended  by  one  church  or  one  denomination,  but  only  by 
united,  organized  action  in  town  and  state  and  nation,  is  not  recognized  as  a 
part  of  the  work  of  associated  churches.  All  the  Sabbath  associations  in  the 
country  have  fewer  men  and  less  money  for  their  work  than  the  churches  of  a 
single  city  of  10,000  population.  There  are  but  nine  men  in  the  United  States 
giving  their  time  to  the  defence  of  the  Sabbath.  Temperance  makes  a  some- 
what better  showing,  though  not  more  deserving;  but  the  whole  force  engaged 
in  Christian  reforms  is  but  a  squad  of  raiders,  whose  function  is  only  a  recon- 
naissance in  force, preparatory  to  the  onward  march  to  ultimate  reform  triumph 
which  must  be  made  by  the  whole  grand  army  of  the  Church  of  God.  Upon 
Endeavorers,  as  the  Church  of  the  twentieth  century,  I  wish  to  urge  earnest 
consideration  of  the  question  whether  the  hour  has  not  come,  in  the  closing 
years  of  this  century,  for  moral  reform,  the  child  of  Christianity,  which  is 
treated  as  a  distant  and  poor  relation,  to  be  taken  into  the  family  ;  that  is, 
whether  moral  reform  should  not  be  made  as  much  a  part  of  church  work  as 
missions,  of  which  it  is  indeed  a  home  branch. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  have  both 
established  temperance  committees,  and  recommended  the  churches  to  take 
collections  to  enable  them  to  promote  this  reform.  The  United  Presbyterians 
have  taken  like  action  as  to  national  reform.  What  is  only  a  committee  now, 
its  support  only  enough  to  make  the  Church's  neglect  the  more  visible,  will,  in 
the  twentieth  century,  in  every  church,  be  a  "  Board  of  Christian  Reforms." 
The  churches  should  do  more  or  less.     They  should  cease  to  recognize,   by 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  307 

resolutions,  that  the  crusades  against  intemperance,  Sabbath-breaking,  im- 
purity, and  gambling  are  a  concern  of  the  Church,  or  else  attack  these  evils 
with  something  more  than  resolutions.  They  should  shoot  something  be- 
sides paper  balls,  unless  the  paper  consists  of  greenbacks. 

As  the  best  work  of  a  law  and  order  league  is  not  to  do  the  work  of  public 
ofHcers  in  enforcing  law,  except  enough  to  show  that  it  can  be  done,  but 
rather  to  make  the  officers  do  their  duty,  so  the  best  work  of  a  Sabbath 
association  is  not  to  do  the  work,  except  temporarily,  which  in  this  case  be- 
longs pre-eminently  to  the  united  churches,  but  rather  to  arouse  the  churches 
to  their  manifest  duty  in  this  matter. 

Meantime,  let  each  Endeavor  Society  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord  by  adding 
to  its  plan  a  Sabbath  observance  committee,  and  let  that  committee,  for  one 
thing,  follow  the  example  of  the  Endeavorers  of  Mount  Vernon,  New  York,  by 
securing  the  Sabbath  closing  of  the  post-office  by  a  local  petition  to  our  noble 
Postmaster-General  Wilson,  who  has  deliberately  adopted  the  local  optiort 
plan  originated  by  Honorable  John  Wanamaker. 

Toronto,  a  city  as  large  as  Washington,  which  has  grown  faster  than  any 
American  city  except  Chicago,  shows  that  no  Sunday  work  whatever  need  be 
done  in  the  post-offices.  Telegrams  Saturday  night  and  Monday  morning 
provide  for  all  emergencies.  But  if,  in  our  large  cities,  it  be  deemed  impracti- 
cable to  ask  for  complete  suspension  of  Sunday  work  at  first,  a  reduction  or 
re-arrangement  may  often  be  secured.  For  instance,  here  in  Washington,  let 
Endeavorers  lead  a  movement  asking  that,  first  of  all,  the  four  carrier  de- 
liveries at  hotels  and  newspaper  offices,  the  only  outside  deliveries  by  carriers 
in  our  country  anywhere,  which  have  been  put  on  without  the  authority  of 
law,  be  discontinued ;  also,  here  and  everwhere,  the  unauthorized  collections 
from  street  boxes.  As  on  the  Sabbath  men  must  go  to  the  office  if  they  wish  to 
get  mail,  by  analogy  they  should  go  there  if  they  wish  to  send  it.  Let  us  also 
ask  everywhere  for  the  discontinuance  of  the  wholly  unauthorized  and  utterly 
unnecessary  Sunday  sale  of  stamps,  called  for  mostly  by  shiftless  loafers.  And 
as  a  fourth  petition  in  large  cities,  let  us  ask  that  in  the  inside  Sunday  work 
of  the  office  rights  of  conscience  and  the  right  to  rest  shall  at  least  receive 
larger  consideration. 

The  movement  against  Sunday  work  in  your  local  post  office  may  well  in- 
clude petitions  to  Congress  for  a  law  against  Sunday  work  in  the  national 
capital,  and  in  the  mails,  and  wherever  else  the  control  of  Congress  extends.  All 
this  can  be  covered  by  the  adoption  in  churches,  labor  unions,  and  other  soci- 
eties, of  this  resolution  : — 

Resolved.  That  our  president  and  secretary  are  hereby  authorized  to  petition  the  Honorable 
Postmaster-General,  in  our  behalf,  for  the  discontinuance  of  Sunday  work  in  our  local  post-office, 
and  also  to  petition  both  houses  of  Congress  for  Sabbath  laws  that  will  suppress  unnecessary 
Sunday  work  in  the  nation's  capital,  in  its  mail  service,  also,  and  wherever  Congress  has  juris- 
diction in  this  matter. 

For  another  thing,  let  that  Sabbath  committee  urge  that  Christians  by  their 
patronage  encourage  those  daily  papers  that  have  no  Sunday  editions,  among 
which  are  some  that  have  no  superiors  in  influence  ;  for  example,  among  morn- 
ing papers,  The  PhiladelpJiia  Ledger,  The  Baltimore  Sun,  The  Pittsburg 
Cotmnercial  Gazette.,  and  The  Chicago  Record. 

Do  not  be  stayed  one  moment  in  your  course  by  that  musty  chestnut,  "  It  is 
the  Monday  paper  that  makes  the  most  Sunday  work."  The  newspaper  men 
who  say  that  assume  that  there  is  no  work  required  in  distribittiitg  Sunday 
papers  far  and  wide,  with  roaring  trains  and  huckstering  cries.  As  Mr.  Moody 
said  recently  in  Boston,  the  worst  thing  about  the  Sunday  paper  is  that  it  em- 
ploys in  sinful  Sunday  work  two  hundred  thousand  newsboys.  At  the  very 
hour  when  they  should  be  learning  Christian  morality  in  church  and  Sabbath 
school  they  are  sent  into  the  devil's  Sunday  school  of  Sabbath-breaking  and 
law-breaking.  Those  who  take  a  Monday  paper  make  no  Sunday  work  neces- 
sary, for  Horace  Greeley,  except  two  years  of  war  time,  made  the  best  of  Mon- 
day papers  without  Sunday  work,  and  called  the  Sunday  paper  "  a  social 
demon." 


308  Official  Report  of  the 

Happy  is  the  man  who  comes  to  this  meeting  untarnished  by  its  tricks,  who 
has  not  bought  a  Sunday  paper  even  in  a  set  of  Endeavor  reports,  when  he  has 
the  opportunity  of  another  full  set  in  a  paper  that  keeps  the  Sabbath. 

Do  you  excuse  yourself  for  buying  a  Sunday  paper,  when,  as  to-day,  it  has 
some  good  reading?  Or  do  you  witli  equal  shallowness  of  sophistry  defend 
taking  a  Sunday  train  to  go  to  a  religious  service?  Both  cases  are  exactly 
parallel  with  the  excuse  ot  the  highwayman  who  "  robs  the  rich  to  help  the 
poor."  We  have  no  more  right  to  steal  tifne  from  God  and  man  than  to  steal 
money,  whatever  we  do  with  the  stealings  in  either  case.  God  did  not  write 
the  fourth  commandment  longest  for  us  to  treat  it  as  least. 

Another  thing  the  Sabbath  observance  committee  of  each  local  Endeavor 
Society  might  do  is  to  circulate  a  pledge  against  using  the  cycle  for  pleasure 
on  the  Sabbath.  Of  course,  there  is  no  more  objection  to  riding  to  church 
afoot  than  to  walking  afoot,  and  every  church  should  provide  a  cycle  stall.  But 
all  Sunday  pleastire-xxdixn^  comes  under  the  ban  of  Isaiah's  profound  injunc- 
tion to  turn  away  from  selfish  "  pleasure  "  and  so  make  the  Sabbath  a  higher 
"delight." 

Most  of  all  should  the  Endeavor  Sabbath  committee  scatter  Sabbath  reform 
literature  from  door  to  door,  as  the  Endeavorers  of  St.  Paul  did  through  all 
that  city,  and  so  contributed  to  its  deliverance  from  a  despicable  "ring." 
Some  of  this  literature  should  be  in  foreign  tongues,  such  as  Rev.  J.  B.  Davison, 
of  Milwaukee,  has  used  effectively  in  that  State.  But  American  church-mem- 
bers need  light  hardly  less.  The  firm  that  is  breaking  down  the  Sabbath  is  the 
firm  of  Thoughtlessness  and  Selfishness,  and  while  Selfishness  may  fairly  be 
called  the  foreign  partner.  Thoughtlessness,  the  American  and  Christian  part- 
ner, is  also  the  senior  partner.  Less  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  are  to-day  at 
work  behind  the  screens  of  the  saloons.  Ten  times  as  many,  mostly  Americans, 
and  many  of  them  professing  Christians,  more  or  less  regularly  do  unmerciful 
and  unnecessary  work  on  the  Sabbath  in  connection  with  Sunday  trains,  Sun- 
day mails,  and  Sunday  papers,  for  which  Americans  are  chiefly  responsible, 
and  wiiich  the  churches  might  stop  if  they  would. 

It  is  amazing  to  what  extent  not  only  church-members,  but  even  minis- 
ters, break  the  Sabbath,  many  of  them  having  done  it  so  long  that  they  now  do 
it  unconsciously,  and  need  what  Miss  Willard,  in  large  charity,  calls  "  the  arrest 
of  thought."  Nine-tenths  of  the  Sabbath-breakers  need  no  other  'arrest." 
Their  excuse  is  the  child's  "  I  didn't  think."  But  that  is  the  very  thing  heads 
were  made  for,  not  merely  for  hat-racks. 

A  month  ago  a  temperance  lecturer,  whom  I  love  for  his  fearless  eloquence, 
while  scoring  the  churches,  and  justly,  for  neglect  of  the  liquor  problem,  in  an 
illustration  told  us  he  was  going  that  Saturday  night  to  take  a  train  which  we 
knew  would  be  a  Sunday  train  before  he  left  it.  He  would  break  a  specific 
commandment  of  God  in  order  to  upbraid  another  distant  audience  for  neglecting 
an  implied  command.  A  few  days  afterward  a  bishop,  whom  I  also  love,  told 
me,  without  apology,  that  he  was  to  take  a  train  that  Sabbath  Day  to  reach  a. 
missionary  committee  in  New  York  the  next  day.  A  Sabbath  later  I  called  on 
a  preacher  and  was  told  by  his  son  that  he  had  preached  elsewhere  that  morn- 
ing, but  would  be  home  on  the  Sunday  afternoon  train.  A  few  minutes  later  I 
called  on  another  preacher  and  found  a  huge  Sunday  paper  scattered  over  his 
porch.  In  Baltimore,  one  Sabbath  evening,  a  preacher  in  introducing  me  to 
speak  on  Sabbath  reform,  told  his  people  he  had  come  eighty  miles  since  the 
morning  service  to  hear  my  address. 

Even  more  than  the  arrest  of  Sunday  liquor-sellers,  the  "  arrest  of  thought" 
is  needed  by  the  Church.  Let  the  Endeavor  committee  "serve  the  papers" 
from  door  to  door  in  well-chosen  literature. 

Never  before  were  such  varied  arguments  available,  for  we  have  the  utter- 
ances of  labor  unions  as  well  as  of  churches,  of  science  as  well  as  of  Scripture. 
Professor  Hodge,  of  Clark  University,  Worcester,  with  Voit,  and  Pollikofer, 
and  Haegler,  of  Germany,  have  shown,  in  an  argument  which,  as  expressed  by 
the  latter,  received  a  hygienic  medal  at  tlie  Paris  World's  Fair,  that  the  night's 
rest  does  not  balance  the  day's  work,  and  that  the  corpuscles'of  the  blood  and 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  309 

the  nerve  cells  need  frequent  additional  periods  of  rest  of  thirty  hours  or  more  for 
their  restoration.  Thus  the  latest  science,  as  often  before,  confirms  the  earli- 
est Scripture.  Let  us  not  forget,  as  we  gather  in  the  nation's  capital,  that  the 
Lord's  Day  is  not  only  the  Rest  Day  also,  and  the  Home  Day,  but  also  especially 
the  Weekly  Independence  Day. 

Popular  government  is  more  secure  under  the  British  flag  and  ours  than  in 
the  French  and  Spanish  republics,  largely  because  the  Sabbath  gives  our  work- 
ing men  what  theirs  lack,  — intelligence,  conscientiousness,  and  the  spirit  of 
equality,  three  necessities  of  life  in  a  self-governing  people.  A  king,  about  to 
demolish  a  historic  building,  as  old  as  his  capital,  to  put  something  more 
modern  and  ornate  in  its  place,  saw,  when  a  stone  or  two  had  been  removed, 
this  uncovered  inscription  :  "  These  gates,  with  their  country,  stand  or  fall."  So 
in  our  midst  stands  the  Sabbath  citadel  of  liberty  and  morality,  built  of  linar- 
ite  granite,  and  of  Plymouth  Rock.  Let  not  the  Church,  let  not  the  State,  mar 
that  citadel;  let  not  vandal  hands,  native  or  foreign,  especially  our  own,  tear  out 
a  single  stone  ;  for  it  is  the  testimony  of  Continental  and  South  American  his- 
tory, in  contrast  to  that  of  the  British  Empire  and  the  American  Republic: 
With  These  Gates  of  the  Sabbath  our  Country  and  our  Christianity 
Stand  or  Fall. 

Tent    Washington. 


The  Evang'elistic  fleeting. 

It  was  a  big  meeting.  It  was  more.  It  was  a  great  meeting.  The 
limits  of  Tent  Washington  could  not  contain  the  thousands  who 
thronged  to  the  popular  evangelistic  meeting  on  Sunday  afternoon. 
But  more  important  yet,  the  immense  congregation  was  pervaded  by  a 
deep,  quiet  spirit  of  resolution,  that  found  magnificent  expression 
before  the  meeting  closed. 

Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills  was  the  sole  speaker.  His  text  was  Rev.  v.  6, 
and  the  general  theme,  "  In  the  midst,  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain." 
It  was  a  wonderful  sermon,  of  unexpected  character,  but  the  more 
powerful  for  that.  It  was  primarily  an  address  to  Christians,  pleading 
for  the  Christ-life  of  sacrifice. 

"  Self-interest,  we  have  been  told,"  said  Mr.  Mills,  "  is  the  first  law 
of  life.  It  is  not.  It  is  the  first  law  of  hell.  Everything  that  is  to 
live  must  have  the  slain  Lamb  in  the  midst.  There  is  no  law  that 
ever  has  been  enacted,  or  that  will  be  enacted,  that  has  in  it  the  prin- 
ciple of  selfishness,  that  can  endure. 

"The  call  of  the  Lord  to  us  is  that  we  should  lead  sacrificial  lives. 
Think  of  it;  the  Church  of  God  has  been  in  this  world  i,8oo  years 
and  more,  and  still  the  world  is  unsaved  !  I  would  not  lessen  the 
force  of  the  call,  '  Come  to  Jesus,'  but  the  message  I  bring  to-day  is, 
'Come  with  Jesus.'" 

With  many  more  words  of  eloquence  did  the  preacher  hold  up  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain,  pleading  that  Christians  would  follow  him  in  sac- 
rifice. Then  he  solemnly  put  the  question  to  the  Christians  in  the 
audience,  whether  they  were  willing,  beginning  that  afternoon,  to  under- 
take the  life  of  sacrifice  ;  to  make  life  and  love  one  ;  to  count  not  their 
own  lives  dear  unto  them,  for  the  sake  of  their  brethren  and  compan- 
ions, and  for  the  sake  of  their  Lord,  the   slain  Lamb.     Just  as  rever- 


310  Official  Report  of  the 

ently,  hundreds  and  thousand  of  the  Christians  present  upraised  their 
hands  in  an  "  I  will." 

And  then  Mr.  Mills  called  upon  those  who  were  not  Christians,  who 
desired  this  same  Christ-life  of  sacrifice,  to  rise  and  affirm  it.  One, 
two,  three,  a  dozen,  a  score,  a  hundred  —  but  it  is  the  work  of  the 
angels,  and  not  men,  to  count  the  number  of  those  who  turn  to  Christ. 
Each  heart  was  moved  deeply ;  to  thousands  the  occasion  was  a  very 
Hermon,  where  they  beheld  Christ  transfigured. 


MONDAY  MORNING. 


Tent  Washington. 

One  of  the  most  powerfully  affecting  meetings  ever  held  was  that  in 
behalf  of  our  suffering  fellow  Christians  that  have  suffered  and  are 
suffering  such  inhuman  cruelties  at  the  hands  of  the  fiendish  Turk. 
The  great  throng  that  crowded  Tent  Washington  was  at  many  points 
moved  to  tears,  and  at  others  aroused  to  the  highest  point  of  excited 
indignation.  Best  of  all,  the  addresses  sought  not  only  to  stir  the 
emotions,  but  to  excite  practical  action  ;  and  in  this  they  will  undoubt- 
edly prove  richly  successful. 

Rev.  F.  D.  Greene,  a  missionary  from  Van,  Armenia,  author  of 
"  The  Armenian  Crisis,"  had  set  sail  for  Turkey  six  years  before  that 
very  day,  and  had  now  returned,  a  missionary  to  Christendom.  Shame 
that  such  a  missionary  should  be  needed  !  He  was  not  there  to  make 
a  plea  for  the  Armenians.  He  was  there  to  say  that  God's  thunder- 
bolts are  hot,  and  that  they  may  fall  on  London,  on  Washington,  or  on 
St.  Petersburg,  even  before  they  fall  on  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  "  Here 
we  are,  singing  '  Let  a  little  sunshine  in  ;  '  but  how  about  those  terrible 
darkened  lives  in  Asiatic  Turkey  ?  "  There  are  two  and  a  half  millions 
of  Armenians.  There  are  the  same  number  of  Christian  Endeavorers. 
Fifty  thousand  stood  in  that  grand  demonstration  before  the  Capitol ; 
fifty  thousand  Armenian  martyrs  stand  now  before  God's  throne,  having 
given  heroic  testimony  on  earth  ;  and  these  are  all  men,  the  bread- 
winners, and  not  women  and  children,  as  were  many  gathered  there. 
Whole  villages  are  running  out  to  our  relief-agents,  crying  pitifully, 
"  We  are  hungry."  Their  children  dig  up  the  grass  and  eat  the  roots. 
Every  glass  of  soda-water  you  save,  every  car-ride,  saves  the  life  of  an 
Armenian  for  a  week.  American  citizens  have  suffered  wounds,  tor- 
ments, the  loss  of  all  their  goods,  the  loss  in  one  place  of  $100,000 
worth  of  property,  and  not  a  cent  of  indemnity  has  been  paid,  or  a 
single  apology  rendered,  or  a  single  criminal  punished.  The  passport 
of  an  American  citizen  in  Turkey  is  not  as  much  protection  as  the  old 
clothes  of  any  Englishman.  You  talk  about  balance  of  power  ;  is  there 
no  balance  of  justice  ? 

"  I  wish  my  voice  had  not  gone  somewhere,"  said  hoarse  Dr.  Hoyt, 
introducing  Miss  Krikorian.     "  I  feel  as  if  it  were  under  Turkish  rule." 


Fifteenth  International  Convefttion.  311 

Miss  Rebecca  Krikorian,  of  Aintab,  Turkey,  was  an  Armenian  lady, 
dressed  in  the  beautiful  native  costume.  Her  sweet  face  was  unutter- 
ably sad,  and  only  to  look  at  her  brought  tears  irresistibly  to  the  eyes. 
Her  voice  was  full  of  a  fearful  pathos,  and  had  an  indescribable  under- 
tone of  horror,  as,  in  faultless  English,  spoken  with  a  quaint  foreign 
accent,  she  painted  some  of  the  scenes  that  might  be  revealed  of  that 
hell  upon  earth  into  which  the  Turk  has  transformed  fair  Armenia, — 
men  buried  alive  under  heaps  of  festering  corpses ;  women  compelled 
to  eat  their  babes  that  have  been  roasted  before  them ;  tongues  cut  out 
that  refused  to  profess  Mohammedanism ;  their  hands  and  feet  cut  off 
one  by  one,  and  eyes  dug  out ;  and  such  common  horrors  only  the  things 
that  can  be  told,  while  worse,  far  worse,  are  things  which  no  man,  even, 
would  dare  whisper  to  another  man. 

Said  that  eloquent  missionary.  Miss  Margaret  W.  Leitch,  of  Ceylon, 
at  the  close  of  her  address  :  "Miss  Krikorian's  aged  father,  a  Chris- 
tian minister,  has  just  been  released  from  a  loathsome  Turkish  dun- 
geon. Her  two  brothers  still  are  there.  Yet  no  word  of  hatred  for  the 
Turks  passes  her  lips,  but  only  the  prayer  for  their  conversion.  This 
is  the  kind  of  Christian  the  missionaries  to  Turkey  have  been  making. 
She  is  a  Christian  Endeavorer  as  well  as  you.  Shall  we  desert  her  ? 
No  !  I  take  this  emblem  of  liberty  and  safety,  and  throw  it  over  her 
(flinging  about  the  Armenian  an  American  flag),  and  say  to  her,  'The 
people  of  America  will  not  desert  you.' "' 

This  scene,  so  thrilling  and  effective,  seemed  to  bring  the  meeting 
to  the  highest  possible  pitch,  but  it  was  reserved  for  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills 
to  reach  the  climax.  A  clear  statement  of  terrible  history  prepared 
the  audience  for  a  fearful  arraignment  of  the  English  and  American 
governments,  which,  being  abundantly  able  to  end  these  outrages,  had 
perfidiously  on  the  one  hand,  and  cowardly  on  the  other,  refused  to  in- 
terfere. The  Canadians  and  Englishmen  on  the  platform  sadly  as- 
sented to  the  truth  of  the  terrible  charges  of  broken  faith  brought 
against  English  statesmen,  especially  since  Mr.  Mills  fairly  acknowl- 
edged that  English  protection  alone  maintained  in  Turkey  our  mis- 
sionaries and  the  noble  Clara  Barton.  The  vast  audience  of  Ameri- 
cans, of  all  parties,  assented,  in  a  passion  of  shame  and  rage,  to  the 
charges  brought  against  our  own  government  at  home  and  its  repre- 
sentatives abroad.  The  vast  audience  sprang  to  its  feet  in  its  excite- 
ment, shouting,  waving  their  hands,  and  manifesting  in  every  way 
their  condemnation  of  the  weak,  inhuman,  cowardly,  selfish,  unchristian 
way  in  which  our  government,  with  more  reason  to  interfere  than  any 
government,  has  joined  all  other  Christian  lands  in  their  inhuman 
indifference. 

Tent  WilHston  and  Tent  Endeavor. 


The  World's  Union  Meetings. 

Monday  morning  was  a  glad  and  significant  day,  not  only  for  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  but  for  the  whole  cause  of  Christ  as  well.     It  witnessed 


312  Official  Report  of  the 

the  wonderful  scene  of  a  great  multitude  of  Christ's  disciples  assembled 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth  solely  in  behalf  of  universal  fellowship.  The 
North  gave  up  and  the  South  kept  not  back.  East  and  West  sent 
their  messengers.  All  spoke  of  the  glad  day  that  surely  is  coming 
when  they  all  shall  be  one. 

This  first  meeting  of  the  World's  Christian  Endeavor  Union  will  be 
a  marked  event  in  the  history  of  Christian  Endeavor.  It  was  seemly 
that  the  programme  proper  should  begin  by  the  responsive  reading  of 
the  Saviour's  prayer  for  unity. 

The  various  national  flags  that  decorated  Tent  Williston  were  not  as 
numerous  as  the  living  foreign  representatives  who  were  seated  upon 
the  platform.  The  first  speaker  was  Rev.  J.  G.  Hildner,  the  pioneer 
of  Christian  Endeavor  among  German-speaking  churches.  He  told 
graphically  the  story  of  the  beginnings  of  the  movement  among  the 
Germans  of  this  land  and  the  fatherland,  and  as  he  concluded  was 
given  a  vigorous  Chautauqua  salute  by  the  congregation.  Persia,  with 
its  3,000  years  of  history,  had  a  message  for  this  youngest  of  all  the 
great  religious  organizations,  that  it  sent  by  Rev.  Jesse  M.  Yonan,  who 
claimed  for  Persia  the  first  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  the  three  wise 
men  who  banded  themselves  together  to  seek  the  new-born  Saviour. 

A  surprise  was  given  the  audience  after  Mr.  Yonan's  address,  in  the 
presentation  of  the  Committee  of  '96.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
most  royal  ovation  that  Endeavorers  know  how  to  offer  was  accorded 
to  these  noble  servants  of  Christian  Endeavor.  As  the  members  of 
the  committee  were  introduced  one  by  one,  each  was  greeted  with  a 
hearty  cheer.  When  all  had  retired  from  the  platform,  save  Chairman 
Smith,  he  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then,  slowly  and  reverently, 
repeated  this  Scripture,  adding  no  words  of  his  own  :  "  Not  unto  us, 
not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  great  name,  O  Lord,  be  all  the  glory !  " 
Before  the  committee  was  allowed  to  leave  the  tent,  Dr.  Clark  pre- 
sented to  the  District  of  Columbia  Union,  through  Mr.  Miles  M.  Shand, 
on  behalf  of  the  United  Society,  a  beautiful  silk  banner,  as  a  souvenir 
of  the  Convention. 

The  Hampton  Octette,  which  early  in  the  Convention  won  the 
hearts  of  the  delegates  by  its  sweet  melodies,  sang  several  songs,  and 
was  received  worthily.  Great  Britain  then  gave  its  greeting — and 
a  splendid  greeting  it  was,  telling  of  wonderful  work  done  by  Christian 
Endeavor,  and  of  the  delightful  prospects  for  still  greater  things  — 
through  Rev.  Joseph  Brown  Morgan,  the  president  of  the  British  Na- 
tional Christian  Endeavor  Council.  Mr.  Morgan  closed  his  thrilling 
address  by  an  urgent  invitation  to  all  the  Christian  Endeavor  world 
to  visit  London  in  1900.  Naturally,  the  Endeavorers  answered  this 
with  unbounded  applause. 

Many  countries  that  could  not  have  personal  representatives  present 
sent  fraternal  greetings  by  cable  or  by  post.  These  were  next  read. 
All  of  them  bore  the  same  glad  tidings  of  the  cause  that  is  speeding 
onward  gloriously.  "The  time  is  coming,"  said  India's  spokesman, 
Mr.  S.  C.  K.  Rutnam,  "  when  we  shall  have  an  International  Conven- 


Fifteenth  hiternational  Convention.  313 

tion  in  India."  Africa,  too,  put  in  a  claim  for  an  International  Con- 
vention, through  Rev.  George  P.  Goll,  who  told  some  thrilling  inci- 
dents of  the  Christian  Endeavor  spirit  in  Africa. 

The  introduction  of  visiting  missionaries,  a  unique  and  impressive 
feature  of  the  programme,  was  then  announced  by  Dr.  Clark.  A 
Jamaica  pastor  brought  a  message  of  cheer  from  his  sunny  land. 
Nellore,  India,  was  represented  by  three  missionaries.  India  was  again 
heard  from  in  the  person  of  Commander  Booth-Tucker,  who  left  the 
shores  of  India  last  February.  His  speech  thrilled  all  hearts  with  its 
note  of  hope  and  courage.  Persia  again  spoke  through  two  mission- 
aries, and  Sierra  Leone,  Africa,  delivered  a  hopeful  message  through 
two  representatives.  Dr.  Cyrus  Clark,  of  Japan,  spoke  briefly,  and  he 
was  followed  by  missionaries  from  India,  Chile,  the  great  West,  and 
the  Holy  Land.  New  Mexico,  with  its  burden  of  Romanism,  sent  a 
plea  through  one  of  its  workers,  and  still  other  missionaries  from 
Africa,  Chile,  and  China  briefly  addressed  the  Convention.  Tarsus, 
which  is  "no  mean  city,"  pathetically  said  through  its  representative 
that  Turkey  could  not  invite  a  Christian  Endeavor  Convention  to  meet 
within  its  borders,  because  the  sword  and  persecution  are  the  only  wel- 
come that  await  Christians  in  that  dark  land,  once  lighted  by  the  pres; 
ence  of  the  great  missionary  apostle. 

A  meeting  of  the  charter  members  of  the  World's  Union  on  the  plat- 
form of  Tent  Williston  was  held  at  the  close  of  this  service. 

In  Tent  Endeavor,  where  Treasurer  Shaw  presided,  another  great 
session  of  like  character  was  held.  Mr.  Shaw  is  a  breezy  presiding 
officer,  and  since  the  meeting  was  one  that  was  worthy  of  all  the  en- 
thusiasm that  could  be  manifested,  he  set  the  audience  to  applauding, 
"just  to  find  out  how."  After  they  had  proved  themselves  masters  of 
the  art,  he  introduced  Rev.  Arnold  Streuli,  of  England,  whose  address 
was  one  of  which  his  fellow  British  Endeavorers  could  be  proud.  The 
presentation  of  the  Committee  of  '96,  and  an  address  by  Rev.  W.  H. 
Towers,  followed. 

Armenia's  woful  message  was  next  brought  to  the  Convention  by 
Rev.  H.  S.  Jenanyan,  who  moved  the  audience  greatly.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  natives  of  Persia  and  India,  Then  came  the  most  impressive 
incident  of  the  service.  Mr.  Shaw  called  on  all  the  delegates  who 
were  missionary  volunteers  to  ascend  to  the  platform.  There  they 
were  grouped  in  a  semicircle,  thirty-nine  of  them.  While  thus  they 
stood,  all  clasped  hands,  and  a  sentence  prayer  was  offered  by  each. 
A  few  words  were  spoken  to  the  audience,  pointing  out  the  need  of 
Christian  gifts  to  send  these  missionaries  abroad.  Every  one  in  the 
great  tent  bowed  in  prayer,  while  supplication  was  made  that  Chris- 
tians at  home  might  be  consecrated  to  the  work  of  giving  to  the  cause 
abroad.  All  who  were  willing  to  make  this  new  consecration  to  a  life 
of  giving  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel  were  called  upon  to  rise,  and  al- 
most the  entire  audience  stood  on  its  feet.  Thus  was  brought  to  a 
close  this  splendid  fellowship  meeting. 

Greetings  by  cable  and  letter  were  read  from  many  Endeavorers  in 


314  Official  Report  of  the 

distant  lands.  A  large  number  of  national  flags  were  received  from 
foreign  lands  and  were  displayed.  There  were  flags  from  England, 
Japan,  France,  Spain,  Switzerland,  Ireland,  Germany,  Mexico,  Norway, 
Liberia,  India,  and  China. 


MONDAY    AFTERNOON. 


Central  Hall. 

The  United  Society  officers  and  trustees  gave  an  informal  reception 
to  the  State  officers  in  Central  Hall.  The  building  was  filled  with  a 
joyous  company, —  the  picked  young  men  and  women  of  a  continent. 
In  all  parts  of  the  hall  was  eager  conversation,  as  the  workers  from  all 
over  the  land  interchanged  greetings.  Dr.  Clark  made  an  address 
which  was  received  with  every  demonstration  of  esteem  and  affection. 
Ice-cream  was  most  appropriate  on  that  hot  day,  and  cooled  every- 
thing but  the  fervor  of  this  cheery  intercourse.  Such  blessed  gather- 
ings are  coming  to  be  especially  characteristic  of  the  great  conventions, 
and  of  themselves  would  amply  justify  the  existence  of  those  conven- 
tions. 

nONDAY    EVENING. 


Perhaps  Paul,  who  saw  unutterable  things,  or  John,  to  whom  the 
heavens  opened,  could  portray  in  truth  all  of  a  consecration  meeting  at 
an  International  Christian  Endeavor  Convention.  Certainly  no  one 
else  can.  The  superlative  of  expression  has  been  exhausted  on  other 
meetings  ;  how,  then,  shall  the  indescribable  climax  of  the  Convention 
be  described.  It  will  not  be  attempted.  The  visions  of  that  sacred 
hour,  the  resolutions  then  kindled,  the  vows  registered,  will  be  treas- 
ured by  thousands  and  thousands.  To  those  who  were  not  there  but 
a  bare,  expressionless  outline  of  the  proceedings  can  be  given. 

There  were  eight  consecration  services,  four  in  churches,  one  in  a 
great  hall,  and  three  in  the  Convention  tents.  Not  all  of  these  places 
were  as  well  filled  as  the  tents,  but  each  meeting  was  a  blessing.  In 
the  churches  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  of  Philadelphia,  Rev.  John 
Faville,  of  Appleton,  Wis.,  Rev.  John  Neil,  and  Rev.  W.  F.  Wilson,  of 
Toronto,  Ont.,  preached  consecration  sermons,  and  Rev.  Ford  C.  Ott- 
man,  Mr.  Charles  N.  Hunt,  Rev.  Ralph  Gillam,  and  Dr.  Chapman 
conducted  the  closing  consecration  services.  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills  both 
preached  the  sermon  and  led  the  consecration  exercises  in  the  enthu- 
siastic meeting  in  Central  Hall.  Neither  speakers  nor  audiences  will 
forget  these  powerful  sessions. 

We  greatly  regret  we  did  not  secure  the  manuscript  of  Messrs. 
Faville,  Neil,  and  Wilson.  And  only  extracts  of  Dr.  Chapman's  and 
Mr.  Mills's  sermons  were  secured. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  315 

Extract  from  Sermon  of  Rev.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman,  D.D.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Text:  —  And  we  came  to  Kadesh-Barnea.  —  Z>^«;!. ;.  ig. 

The  children  of  Israel  furnish  a  perfect  type  of  the  Christian  with  an  aver- 
age Christian  experience.  Egypt  stands  for  the  world;  Canaan  stands  for  the 
life  of  surrender;  and  all  the  wanderings  between  Egypt  and  Canaan  represent 
the  experiences  which  come  to  us  simply  because,  like  Israel  of  old,  we  are  not 
willing  to  trust  God.  The  Pillar  of  Cloud  going  before  them  was  like  the  Spirit 
of  God  convicting  us  of  sin;  the  Red  Sea  stands  for  our  conversion.  The 
manna  sent  from  heaven  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  Word  of  God.  upon  which 
our  souls  feed.  The  water  bursting  from  the  rock  is  the  type  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  every  Christian  has,  whether  he  is  in  Canaan  or  out  of  it. 

But  there  is  more  to  the  Christian  experience  than  this,  just  as  Canaan  was 
before  the  children  of  Israel.  When  they  reached  Kadesh-Barnea  they  had 
come  to  a  crisis.  God  intended  that  they  should  enter  in  Canaan  at  once. 
Before  them  was  rest,  fruit,  communion  with  God ;  back  of  them  was  the  wilder- 
ness, and  there  were  just  two  things  they  could  do  :  the  first  was  to  go  back  to 
the  wilderness  —  that  meant  fighting  and  failure,  lusting  and  idolatry  and  mur- 
muring; the  second  was  to  cross  over  the  line  and  forever  be  at  rest. 

God  has  brought  us  to  a  crisis  in  this  conference.  Many  of  us  have  been 
living  the  average  Christian  experience,  but  now  we  are  at  Kadesh-Barnea,  and 
we  may  go  over  into  Canaan  if  we  will.  To  fail  to  go  over  means  to  lead  the 
carnal  Christian  life,  with  its  envyings,  its  strifes,  and  its  divisions.  To  cross 
over  means  to  enjoy  all  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  uninterrupted  communion  with 
God,  and  the  fulness  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  may  be  God's  last  call  to  you 
to  enjoy  the  life  of  privilege.  When  the  children  of  Israel  failed  at  Kadesh- 
Barnea  they  never  again  had  the  opportunity  of  going  in.  Their  failure  to  go 
in  also  kept  out  Kaleb  and  Joshua  and  the  others  who  wanted  to  pass  over. 
Your  failure  may  keep  out  some  one  over  whom  you  have  an  influence,  and 
before  God  you  will  be  responsible.  One  step  alone  settles  it;  if  you  are  willing 
to  submit  your  will  and  to  believe  God,  you  may  enter  to-day  into  a  perfect  com- 
munion with  God,  which  is  the  life  of  privilege,  and  is  therefore  every  Chris- 
tian's birthright. 

At  the  close  Dr.  Chapman  asked  all  those  of  his  auditors  who 
wished  to  go  over  into  Canaan,  to  enter  this  life  of  perfect  surrender, 
and  those  who  would  pray  that  God  would  make  them  willing  to  be 
made  willing  to  make  the  surrender,  to  stand.  A  large  number  all  over 
the  house  arose.  He  then  asked  them  to  come  out  into  the  aisle  and 
kneel  down  by  the  altar.  They  bowed  for  a  few  moments  in  silent  prayer 
and  sang  softly  a  prayer  hymn.  Dr.  Chapman  asked  if  there  were  not 
some  in  all  parts  of  the  audience.  Christians  and  others,  who  desired 
an  interest  in  the  prayers  about  to  be  offered.  A  great  many  hands 
were  uplifted  in  response  to  this  invitation.  Prayers  were  offered  by 
himself  and  others  that  all  might  be  able  to  make  this  surrender  and 
go  over  into  the  Canaan  of  a  new  life.  The  kneeling  Endeavorers 
resumed  their  seats  and  all  joined  in  singing,  very  appropriately,  "  I  '11 
Live  for  Thee." 

Extract  from  Sermon  of  Rev.  B.  Fay  Mills. 

I  would  ask  your  most  prayerful  attention  to  the  thoughts  that  are  suggested 
in  the  prayer  we  have  prayed  so  frequently,  as  recorded  in  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Matthew,  tenth  verse:  "May  thy  kingdom  come  ...  on  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven."  We  have  all  said  it  hundreds  of  times  ;  and  of  all  the  millions  that 
have  ever  prayed  it  how  many  have  ever  really  expected  the  answer.?  How 
many  people  have  applied  to  it  the  principle  that  Jesus  taught  when  he  said, 


316  Official  Report  of  the 

"  Whatsoever  things  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye  have  received 
them,  and  ye  shall  have  them."  The  things  we  pray  for  are  that  God's  king- 
dom may  come,  and  that  his  will  may  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Now 
we  know  what  the  popular  idea  of  heaven  has  been  in  the  past.  I  doubt 
whether  there  is  any  popular  idea  of  heaven  now  prevalent  among  the  people. 
I  scarcely  know  two  people  who  have  the  same  thoughts  concerning  heaven. 
We  used  to  have  an  idea  of  heaven  as  a  city, —  a  material  sort  of  city,  with  bat- 
tlements and  gates  and  streets  and  mansions. 

I  think  most  of  us  have  come  to  be  moved  away  from  some  material  ideas 
of  heaven,  until  at  last  probably  all  of  us  here  would  agree  to  define  heaven  as 
a  perfect  society  of  perfect  individuals.  No  man  can  be  in  heaven  alone,  no 
matter  how  happy  he  be  in  his  individual  consciousness.  No  man  can  form  a 
heaven  alone. 

Our  conception  of  heaven  must  include  individuals  in  a  perfect  society.  We 
are  told  in  the  Bible  that  in  heaven  there  will  be  no  hunger  and  no  thirst,  no 
oppressive  heat,  no  pain,  no  disease,  no  death,  and  no  sorrow,  no  impurity  and 
no  selfishness.  Now  I  do  not  want  to  destroy  anybody's  hope  in  anything  that 
is  worth  hoping  for.  I  would  not  want  to  say  that  we  shall  not  be  translated  to 
some  place  of  perfect  felicity;  but  I  do  want  to  say  with  tremendous  emphasis 
that  any  such  conception  of  the  work  of  Christ  is  but  a  partial  comprehension 
of  his  mission,  and  is  not  a  description  of  the  great  purpose  of  Christ,  which 
did  not  primarily  concern  some  far-off  heaven. 

God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world,  but  that  the 
world,  through  him,  might  be  saved.  And  there  is  a  certain  sense  in  which  no 
man  living  on  the  earth  can  be  fully  saved  until  all  those  who  live  about  him 
are  also  fully  saved.  No  man  can  be  perfect  alone.  No  man  can  be  saved 
alone,  and  there  never  will  be  heaven  anywhere  except  there  is  an  association 
of  men  that  are  living  in  absolute  unselfishness  ;  and  wherever  that  exists  the 
kingdom  will  have  come  as  it  has  already  in  heaven.  I  believe  it  is  a  place 
where  our  activities  shall  be  devoted  in  a  larger  and  more  effective  form  to  the 
transformation  of  this  world. 

I  do  not  believe  that  we  will  change  our  prayer,  but  that  we  will  labor  that 
God's  kingdom  may  come  on  the  earth  "  as  it  is  in  heaven."  We  have  these 
words  put  on  our  lips  as  the  direct  language  of  the  Master,  and  the  devil  never 
executed  such  a  triumph  of  his  art  as  when  he  turned  the  attention  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  away  from  the  transformation  of  this  world.  To  be  a  Christian 
is  to  be  a  laborer  together  with  him  who  was,  as  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself. 

The  very  first  words  that  Jesus  uttered  in  his  mission  were  these :  "  The 
kingdom  of  heaven;  repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  The  con- 
ception of  the  Jews  that  it  was  to  be  a  terrestrial  kingdom  was  a  correct  one.  I 
do  not  know  of  but  one  place  in  all  the  Gospel  where  Jesus  refers  to  heaven  in 
any  sense  that  might  be  rightly  interpreted  in  the  ordinary  idea.  His  call  was 
a  call  to  man  to  come  and  help  him  in  the  establishment  of  peace  upon  the 
earth. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  Church,  for  the  most  part  in  the  first  century,  had 
any  other  idea  than  that  the  disciples  were  called  to  work  for  the  triumphs  of 
Jesus  in  this  world.  I  even  believe  that  Paul,  up  to  a  certain  period  of  his  life, 
expected  to  see  the  earth  transformed  and  the  kingdom  of  God  fully  estab- 
lished before  he  should  be  taken  away.  The  eyes  of  the  apocalyptic  seer  saw 
the  New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  God,  descending  out  of  heaven  to  abide  up- 
on the  earth,  and  he  gave  to  the' people  the  great  vision  almost  at  the  close  of 
his  wonderful  book.  He  tells  us  that  he  heard  the  voices  crying  out  in  heaven 
and  singing,  "  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  to  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord,  and  of  his  Christ,  and  he  will  reign  forever  and  ever." 

I  am  not  mourning  because  some  old  doctrines  are  losing  their  grip  over  the 
hearts  of  men.  I  can  occasionally  weep  a  little  on  account  of  tender-hearted- 
ness, but  I  never  weep  on  my  own  account,  as  I  see  the  faith  of  men  being 
strengthened,  and  their  conceptions  being  enlarged.  And  while  our  great  con- 
ventions are  passing  their  resolutions,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Congregationalists, 


Fifteenth  Intematiojial  Convention.  317 

the  Unitarians,  and  all  the  rest,  defining  what  they  mean  by  the  Christian  reli- 
gion, the  day  of  our  Lord  is  coming  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  and  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  the  people  are  being  changed  into  the  conception  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
such  a  fashion  that  we  will  have  to  be  one  under  the  power  of  the  Lord. 

Do  you  not  see  that  when  the  old  overmastering  passion  of  the  ministry  and 
the  Church  shall  not  simply  be  to  defend  its  dogmas,  but  to  establish  the  king- 
dom of  love,  before  we  know  it  we  will  all  be  so  heartily  engaged  in  work  for 
the  same  thing  that  we  will  be  practically  one  ?  Even  now,  when  we  are  engaged 
in  this  limited  fashion  in  a  practical  effort  for  the  uplifting  of  men,  here  come 
men  of  twelve  different  denominations  —  all  Christians  —  and  join  their  hands. 
For  what.?  Not  that  we  may  lift  up  any  of  our  peculiar  standards  of  doctrine, 
but  that  we  may  have  a  practical  aim  in  trying  to  do  something  in  a  practical 
fashion. 

And  I  can  conceive  that  as  the  Spirit  of  God  goes  on  diffusing  this  great 
thought  among  men,  we  will  have  to  be  bound  together.  I  can  see  a 
united  Protestant  Church,  clothed  with  power  and  inspired  in  such  fashion 
that  men  shall  not  think  of  what  they  think,  but  rather  of  what  they  do; 
and  I  can  see  the  Protestant  Church  look  into  the  face  of  her  mother,  and  see 
the  old  Roman  Church,  purified  by  this  inspiration,  with  all  of  its  history  of 
noble  achievements  as  well  as  its  history  of  shame  and  sorrow,  united  with  the 
child  for  this  and  this  alone, — that  God's  kingdom  may  come,and  his  will  be  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Further  than  that,  even  to  the  mother  of  Rome,  I  can  see  that  old  Greek 
Church,  called  out  of  its  slovenly  inactivity  by  the  great  thought  of  establish- 
ing the  kingdom  of  peace  —  one  united  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Back  further  than  that:  turning  to  that  one  that  was  the  mother  of  us  all, 
crying  to  God's  ancient  people  that  they  may  come  and  see  the  Messiah  visible 
in  what  he  does  for  men,  until  there  shall  be  a  mighty  union  of  all  the  so-called 
Christians  with  all  the  Israelites;  and  I  am  willing  that  they  shall  lead  us  if 
they  will  as  we  call  the  heathen  world  into  this  glorious  fellowship,  until  in 
the  darkest  corners  of  the  earth  the  kingdom  of  peace  shall  be  established. 
Come  and  let  us  make  a  heaven  below,  into  which  the  heaven  above  shall  flow 
until  they  both  shall  be  one,  bound  together  in  the  manifest  spirit  of  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God. 

And  I  come  to  say  more  than  that;  that  I  believe  that  not  only  is  this  the 
inspiration  that  is  availing  now  and  that  will  avail  until  the  final  triumph 
comes  for  the  purifying,  unifying,  and  empowering  of  the  Church,  but  for  the 
regeneration  of  society  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Church.  May  it  not 
be  that  just  such  a  company  as  are  gathered  here  this  evening,  who  shall  give 
themselves  to  the  answering  of  the  prayer  that  you  have  heard  thousands  of 
times,  and  let  that  kingdom  come  in  you  as  it  has  come  in  heaven,  and  in  the 
trade  and  intercourse  of  our  fellows  and  in  our  politics, — may  it  not  be  that  this 
company  might  make  of  this  capital  city  of  our  country  and  of  the  com- 
munities of  our  homes,  cities  of  God;  and  all  cities  throughout  the  nation 
might  catch  the  inspiration,  and  one  nation  with  the  spirit  of  Pentecost  might 
lead  every  other  nation  of  the  world  into  a  holy  fellowship  of  serving  Christ? 

Tent  Williston. 

Treasurer  Shaw  presided  in  Tent  Williston.  Here,  as  in  the  other 
two  tents,  a  special  song  service,  perhaps  the  best  of  the  Convention, 
was  given  by  the  choir.  Mr.  Foster's  singing  of  "Just  as  I  Am  "  was 
notably  affecting.  The  antiphonal  singing  by  the  choir  of  "  Bringing 
in  the  Sheaves  "  also  made  a  wonderful  impression.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  service  it  was  announced  that  31,112  delegates,  representing 
every  state,  territory,  and  province  in  North  America,  had  registered 
at  Washington.     Many  others  present  did  not  register. 

All  applause  was  stilled  throughout  the  rest  of  this  service  and  the 


318  Official  Report  of  the 

services  in  the  other  tents.  A  period  of  silent  prayer  preceded  the 
preaching  of  the  sermon  by  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.D.,  of  Nashville, 
whose  subject  was  "  The  New  Faith  of  the  Old  Gospel." 

Sermon  by  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.D.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Text. —  May  we  know  what  this  new  doctrine,  whereof  thou  speakest,  is  1  —  Acts  xvii.  ig. 

What  is  true  religion.''  Christianity  makes  a  distinct  and  unique  contribu- 
tion to  the  solution  of  that  problem.  Religion  is  as  old  as  the  race  and  older, 
but  there  is  that  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  which  is  ever  new.  We  speak 
of  the  "  old,  old  story ;  "  we  sing  of  the  "  old-time  religion  ;  "  we  read  of  "  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints ;  "  but  the  fact  is  there  is  that  in  the  Gospel  which 
never  grows  old,  and  which  to  the  men  of  every  generation  will  go  down  under 
no  other  caption  than  "  the  new." 

Worship  is  no  new  thing.  Men  have  always  worshipped  something,  some- 
how. Prayer  is  not  new.  Reverence,  adoration,  faith  in  the  hereafter,  is  as  old 
as  the  race.  But  as  Paul  preached  Jesus  Christ  in  Athens,  the  scholarly  men 
said,  "Here  is  something  brand  new,  something  that  has  never  before  sug- 
gested itself  to  the  thought  of  the  world  in  connection  with  religion;  something 
out  of  the  ordinary  and  commonplace."  They  were  philosophers  who  said  this ; 
not  twilight  mystics,  but  men  of  profound  thought,  before  the  majesty  of  whose 
intellectual  greatness  the  world  still  bows,  and  in  whose  presence  certain  agnos- 
tics of  our  day,  who  strut  across  the  stage,  squeaking  themselves  hoarse  with 
"  We  don't  know ;  we  hope  so,  but  we  don't  know,"  seem  but  pigmies. 

These  philosophers  of  the  Epicureans  and  Stoics,  struck  with  the  originality 
of  Paul's  faith,  gathered  around  him  and  said,  "May  we  know  what  this  neiu 
doctrine,  whereof  thou  speakest,  is  ?  " 

The  Gospel  is  not  novel,  but  new.  This  characteristic  of  his  teachings 
Christ  emphasized  again  and  again.  He  approached  man's  religious  life  from 
new  standpoints,  punctured  spiritual  delusions,  and  upheaved  effete  customs. 
A  common  phrase  on  his  lips  was,  "  Ye  have  heard  how  it  hath  been  said  by 
them  of  old  times,  but  I  say  unto  you  —  "  He  spake  as  never  man  spake. 
Jesus  was  the  greatest  iconoclast  that  ever  lived;  and  these  people  who  boil 
with  indignation  in  their  frenzied  hostility  to  everything  that  is  new  would 
have  been  found  in  the  company  that  tried  to  cry  down  our  Lord  into  silence. 

The  new  in  a  doctrine  is  not  always  its  damnation.  It  is  well  enough  to 
revere  the  Fathers  and  to  respect  the  way  the  thing  has  always  been  done.  Still, 
the  world  can  never  get  to  anything  better  along  that  track.  Suppose  the 
Fathers  had  always  acted  on  the  principle  that  they  must  do  the  thing  the  way 
it  always  had  been  done.?  To-night  we  should  be  back  in  the  year  one.  The 
best  way  is  not  the  way  it  always  has  been  done,  but  the  way  it  never  has  been 
done  ;  and  the  world  has  moved  out  into  light  only  because  every  age  has  had 
some  great  souls  whose  faces  were  turned  toward  the  morning. 

The  new  in  Christianity  has  ever  been  that  which  was  hard  to  accept.  We 
naturally  read  our  customs,  prejudices,  and  experiences  into  everything  about 
us.  Hence,  when  Apostolic  Christianity  preached  its  doctrines  to  surrounding 
Paganism  and  Judaism,  the  tendency  was  for  the  environment  to  project  its 
preconceived  opinions  of  religion  into  the  new  faith.  The  result  was  that  very 
early  Christianity  was  corrupted.  Pagan  feast-days  found  their  way  into  the 
Christian  calendar,  Judaistic  rites  fastened  themselves  upon  the  Christian  cult. 
There  was  a  paganized  Christianity,  or  a  Christianized  paganism.  In  so  far 
as  Christianity  has  failed,  its  failure  has  been  due  to  the  failure  to  apprehend 
and  lift  up  into  importance  those  celestial  marks  by  which  Jesus  Christ  has 
differentiated  his  Gospel  from  every  other  religion  under  heaven. 

These  marks  are  the  "  new  faiths  "  of  the  old  Gospel,  and  together  they  con- 
stitute the  sum  total  of  true  religion. 

What  is  true  religion?  What  are  its  fundamental  characteristics?  It 
touches  three  realms  in  the  individual  life:  first,  that  of  the  consciousness; 
second,  that  of  conduct;  third,  that  of  destiny.    What  is  true  religion  in  its 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  319 

contact  with  the  inner  life?  What  is  true  religion  in  its  influence  upon  conduct? 
What  is  true  religion  in  its  conception  of  destiny  ?  Dr.  James  Stalker  has  given 
this  admirable  summary  of  the  religion  for  young  men.  He  says,  "Let  it  be 
not  a  creed,  but  an  experience  ;  not  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration  ;  not  an  insur- 
ance for  the  next,  but  a  programme  for  the  present,  world." 

I  do  not  see  why  we  should  have  a  different  religion  for  the  old  and  for  the 
young,  one  sort  of  religion  for  men  and  another  for  women.  God's  salvation  is 
one,  a  quality  of  life  rather  than  a  form  of  character,  and  identically  the  same 
for  all,  always.  He  has  never  saved  but  in  one  way.  Therefore  what  is  good 
religion  for  young  men  is  good  religion  for  all  men,  for  all  sexes,  for  all  classes, 
everywhere. 

Nevertheless,  I  think  Dr.  Stalker's  admirable  summary  states  but  one  side 
of  the  truth.  I  should  rather  put  it  this  way:  True  religion  is  not  only  a 
creed,  but  an  experience;  not  only  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration;  not  only  an 
insurance  for  the  next,  but  a  programme  for  the  present,  world. 

In  the  realm  of  consciousness,  Christianity  is  not  only  a  creed,  but  an  experi- 
ence. I  n  the  realm  of  conduct,  Christianity  is  not  only  a  restraint,  but  an  inspira- 
tion. In  the  realm  of  destiny,  Christianity  is  not  only  an  insurance  for  the  next, 
but  a  programme  for  the  present,  world.  These  are  the  new  faiths  of  the  old 
Gospel. 

True  religion  is  not  ottly  a  creed,  but  an  experience. 

It  is  certainly  a  creed.  Think  of  having  a  religion  without  a  creed !  Think 
of  trying  to  believe,  and  having  nothing  to  believe  in  !  You  might  as  well  try 
to  nourish  an  elephant  with  syllabub,  or  hang  a  planet  on  a  moonbeam,  as  to 
have  a  religion  without  a  creed.  Creeds  are  to  religion  what  the  bones  are  to 
the  body,  what  scaffolding  is  to  a  house.  They  are  not  life,  but  they  are  essential 
to  life  ;  and  a  vast  deal  of  the  minimizing  of  creeds  that  is  indulged  in  nowadays 
is  either  palpable  absurdity  or  sheer  ecclesiastical  demagoguery. 

But  creeds  are  nothing  new.  The  world  has  always  had  its  creeds  —  not  so 
good,  to  be  sure,  in  the  quality  of  the  truths  embodied  as  the  creeds  of  Chris- 
tianity; but  admirable,  nevertheless.  The  dearth  of  the  world  has  never  been 
a  dearth  of  abstract  truth.  The  main  trouble  has  been  that  the  truth  has  been 
a  thing  apart  from  the  life. 

Christ  teaches  that  a  creed  is  worth  nothing  by  itself.  It  must  be  incarnated. 
It  must  be  clothed  with  flesh  and  blood.  The  place  to  keep  it  is  not  on  a  parch- 
ment page  or  a  library  shelf,  but  in  the  life.  That  is  the  glorious  thing  about  the 
person  of  Jesus.  He  is  divine  truth  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood.  He  is  heaven's 
creed  incarnated. 

We  must  do  vastly  more  than  hold  our  creeds.  We  must  experience  them. 
When  Nicodemus  came  to  Christ  to  inquire  the  way  of  life,  Jesus  said, 
"  Nicodemus,  you  must  be  born  again.  You  are  a  teacher  of  the  Jews,  and  are 
familiar  with  religion  as  a  system.     It  must  become  your  life." 

To  the  woman  at  the  well  in  Samaria,  he  said,  "  Whosoever  drinketh  of 
the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst,  but  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 
What  are  we  to  understand  by  that  central  and  cardinal  fact  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation—the indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  believer's  life  —  if  it  be  not 
that  our  creeds  are  to  become  our  experience,  and  our  truths  to  pulsate  with 
our  life-beat? 

Here  is  the  mistake  which  many  of  us  have  made.  We  have  deemed  it 
sufficient  to  stop  with  an  orthodox  subscription.  The  Church  has  had  too 
much  of  the  spirit  of  a  North  Carolina  elder,  who  was  denouncing  evangelists 
as  unpresbyterian ;  and  when  asked  whether  the  evangelists  were  not  saving 
souls,  replied,  "Yes,  brethren  ;  but  for  God's  sake,  let's  save  them  according  to 
the  constitution." 

We  have  substituted  ecclesiastical  machinery  for  Holy  Ghost  energy.  We 
have  mistaken  pleasurable  emotions  and  approval  of  pious  efforts  for  regen- 
erated life.  There  is  many  a  man  who  will  applaud  to  the  echo  Daniel's 
allegiance  to  God,  but  who  will  not  make  the  first  effort  to  live  Daniel's  life. 
That  is   not  Christianity ;  it  is    only  baptized  paganism.     You  can't  make  a 


320  Official  Report  of  the 

lawyer  out  of  a  ream  of  legal  cap  and  a  copy  of  the  State  code.  You  can't 
make  a  physician  out  of  a  box  of  pills  and  a  case  of  surgical  instruments.  You 
can't  make  a  merchant  out  of  a  show-window  and  a  full-page  advertisement  in 
the  Sunday  morning  papers.  Neither  can  you  make  a  saint  out  of  the  Shorter 
Catechism  and  the  Prayer-Book. 

True  religion  is  an  experience.  It  is  God  in  the  life.  It  is  not  so  much 
copying  after  Christ  as  it  is  having  Christ  formed  within  you,  the  hope  of 
glory.  The  denominational  name  is  not  the  great  thing.  The  experience  is 
the  same  for  all  churches.  What  makes  one  a  child  of  God  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  which  makes  him  God's  child  in 
the  Baptist,  Methodist,  or  Episcopal  Church.  It  is  the  experience  of  God's 
life.  The  trouble  too  often  is  that  we  lift  our  denominationalism  into  undue 
importance.  Men  come  into  contact  with  our  ordinances  and  forms,  and  are 
made  churchmen.  We  need  Christians  rather  than  churchmen;  and  it  were 
as  easy  for  a  boy  to  become  an  astronomer  by  looking  through  a  telescope  as 
for  one  to  become  God's  child  by  subscribing  to  a  creed. 

Wanted:  A  religion  that  is  not  only  a  creed  but  an  experience,  a  religion 
that  incarnates  its  convictions  until  its  truths  pulsate  with  the  heart-throb  of 
its  own  being. 

True  religion  is  not  only  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration. 

It  is  certainly  restraint.  It  is  manifestly  a  poor  religion  that  does  not  put 
fetters  on  vice  and  curb  the  unholy  appetites  within  us.  The  Gospel  frowns 
down  on  all  that  is  sinful,  saying  to  every  disciple,  "Abhor  that  which  is  evil, 
cleave  to  that  which  is  good."  Calvary  is  not  in  conflict  with  Sinai.  Christ 
came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil  the  law. 

"  In  vain  we  call  old  notions  fudge, 

And  bend  our  conscience  to  our  dealing  ; 
The  Ten  Commandments  will  not  budge. 
And  stealing  will  continue  stealing." 

But  there  are  numbers  who  stop  here.  Their  piety  exhausts  itself  with  a  re- 
straint. They  regard  religion  as  a  pruning-knife  whose  only  mission  is  to  lop 
off  their  excesses  and  debaucheries.  If  you  ask  them  what  it  means  to  be  a 
Christian,  they  will  tell  you  that  it  means  not  to  do  so  and  so.  They  dwell  much 
on  what  they  must  surrender.  It  is  a  dreary  prospect  that  confronts  them, — 
sacrifice,  self-denial,  Puritanism.  Christ  moved  on  away  beyond  that.  He  sub- 
stituted the  "  Thou  shalt"  for  the  "  Thou  shalt  not."  He  taught  that  religion 
was  to  be  a  restraint,  to  be  sure,  but  a  restraint  only  because  it  had  become  a 
glorious  inspiration.  He  put  a  spring  in  the  step  and  a  song  in  the  heart  of  all 
those  who  follow  him,  when  he  said,  "  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments." 
Here  is  a  black  abyss  of  awful  danger,  and  yonder  is  a  man  running  from  it 
with  all  his  might.  You  do  not  need  to  build  a  barrier  to  keep  him  from  top- 
pling over  the  brink  into  that  black  pit  of  horrors.  His  safety  is  in  that  which 
speeds  him  in  the  other  direction.  There  are  Christians  who  crawl  as  near  to 
the  brink  of  the  non-permissable  as  possible,  and  who  think  that  the  Gospel's 
mission  is  to  exercise  some  sort  of  restraint  that  will  keep  them  from  falling 
quite  over.  The  true  Christian  needs  no  such  restraint.  His  face  fronts  away 
from  evil.  He  is  running  Godward  with  all  his  might.  His  inspiration  is  his 
restraint. 

I  do  not  believe  that  religion  was  ever  intended  to  be  an  incubus  to  life.  We 
have  trouble  enough  without  making  our  faith  an  additional  burden.  The  Gos- 
pel is  intended  to  help  us  front  life's  duties  with  courage,  endure  its  misfortunes 
with  serenity,  surmount  its  obstacles  with  hope,  and  achieve  its  victories  with 
humility.  What  an  unspeakable  blunder  to  quench  all  this  with  the  dismal 
creed  that  one's  piety  is  as  potent  as  it  is  sombre,  and  that  glory  and  gloom  are 
synonymous  ! 

Away  with  all  such.  The  religion  that  God  gives  is  an  inspiration.  He  curbs 
the  evil  by  enabling  us  to  fall  in  love  with  the  good.  The  religion  that  would 
capture  the  world  must  be  an  inspiration.  The  faith  of  those  heroic  souls 
whose  sacrifices  and  martyrdoms  have  glorified  the  history  of  the  Church  has 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  321 

been  not  merely  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration.  The  men  and  women  who  this 
hour,  in  far  distant  heathen  lands,  amid  privation  and  persecution,  proclaim 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Jesus  Christ,  have  for  the  sustenance  of  their  souls 
not  a  dismal  restraint,  but  a  glorious  inspiration.  While  Parliaments  and  Sen- 
ates, while  statesmen  and  sovereigns,  have  let  a  year  and  a  half  go  by  in  discus- 
sing what  shall  be  done  to  stop  the  atrocities  of  the  brutal  Turk  and  minister 
to  the  pitiable  sufferings  of  stricken  Armenia,  a  woman  more  than  seventy- 
years  of  age,  with  a  red  cross  on  her  breast,  has  crossed  the  seas  and  mountain 
wilderness,  carrying  bread  and  love  to  the  starving  thousands  of  that  smitten 
land.  God  bless  Clara  Barton!  Hers  is  not  a  religion  of  restraint,  but  of  un- 
conquerable inspiration. 

Fellow  Endeavorers,  if  your  religion  is  to  bless  the  world  it  must  quit  think- 
ing of  what  it  needs  to  sacrifice.  It  must  be  song,  not  dirge.  There  must  be 
some  magnetism,  some  glory-crown,  upon  it  that  will  transform  its  very  defeats 
into  victories.  It  is  said  that  a  brave  British  ofiicer  led  his  regiment  through 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  over  a  dreary  trackless  waste,  guided  only  by  one 
bright  star,  on  which  he  kept  his  eye  steadily  fixed.  In  the  gray  dawn  of  the 
next  morning,  when  the  battle  was  joined,  he  was  the  first  to  fall,  mortally 
wounded.  As  his  superior  officer  leaned  over  him,  the  dying  man's  brow  was 
mantled  with  a  blush  of  pride,  as  he  said,  "  Did  n't  I  guide  them  straight,  sir?" 

May  we  see  the  star,  my  brothers.  May  the  glorious  hope  with  which  God 
dowers  his  children  shine  out  so  bright  on  the  sky  yonder  that  it  shall  be  our 
guide  through  all  the  wilderness  and  night  of  this  lifetime.  Then  what  matters 
it  if  death  does  come  in  the  morning.  It  will  be  given  us  to  look  up  into  the  face 
of  him  who  is  the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation,  and  say,  "  Did  n't  I  guide  them 
straight .'"' 

Wanted  _:  A  religion  that  is  not  only  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration  ;  a  restraint 
because  it  is  an  inspiration. 

True  religion  is  not  only  an  insiiratice  for  the  next,  but  a  progranune  for 
the  present,  world. 

It  is  certainly  an  insurance  for  the  next  world.  Think  of  a  religion  without 
a  hereafter!  It  is  like  a  kingdom  without  a  monarch,  or  a  nation  without 
citizens,  or  a  ship  without  a  sea  on  which  to  sail.  Think  of  religion  without 
the  supernatural !  It  is  stark  idiocy.  A  good  woman  in  Nashville,  where  I 
live,  has  a  sceptical  husband.  He  is  troubled  about  the  supernatural ;  can  not 
believe  in  the  supernatural.  Some  time  ago  she  went  to  one  of  our  pastors, 
and,  telling  him  of  her  husband's  spiritual  difficulties,  asked  him  to  preach  a 
special  sermon  on  "The  Supernatural."  He  consented,  and  laid  himself  out  in 
the  construction  of  an  elaborate  discourse  that  would  annihilate  the  most  pug- 
nacious scepticism  of  the  supernatural.  The  Sabbath  morning  came  for  the 
delivery  of  this  masterly  piece  of  pulpit  apologetics,  and  the  good  woman  was 
there  early,  and  with  her  infidel  husband  occupied  a  conspicuous  seat  in  a  front 
pew.  Hardly  had  the  text  been  announced  and  the  preacher  well  begun  his 
introduction  when  his  sceptical  auditor  dropped  his  head  and  started  for  the 
land  of  Nod.  He  slumbered  soundly  through  the  entire  sermon,  awaking  only 
to  catch  the  flashes  of  the  closing  pyrotechnics  in  the  preacher's  peroration. 
The  minister  left  his  pulpit  that  day  a  sadder  but  a  wiser  man,  convinced  that 
the  only  effect  of  his  sermon  had  been  to  make  a  supernatural  fool  of  himself 
in  attempting  to  discuss  religion  with  a  man  who  began  by  denying  the  exist- 
ence of  the  supernatural,  without  which  there  can  be  no  religion. 

But  religion  is  not  all  supernatural  and  hereafter.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  Gospel  is  only  a  scheme  by  which  to  dodge  hell,  or  a  contrivance  by 
which  to  get  into  heaven.  Selfishness  is  none  the  less  damnable  because  it 
gets  itself  baptized  with  the  name  of  religion.  True  religion  is  vastly  more 
than  insurance  against  fire  in  the  world  to  come  on  the  one  hand,  or  an  endow- 
ment policy  for  the  hereafter,  on  the  other. 

It  is  chiefly  a  programme  for  the  present  world.  Christ  taught  this  unmis- 
takably. He  said  something  about  the  hereafter,  to  be  sure,  but  only  enough 
to  assure  us  that  it  is  there,  and  that  the  way  to  attain  the  best  there  is  to  be 
and  do  the  best  here.     When  we  are  converted  we  are  started  out  on  service. 


322  Official  Report  of  the 

We  are  not  to  be  so  much  concerned  about  getting  up  to  heaven  as  with  get- 
ting heaven  down  to  earth.  All  that  Christ  had  to  say  to  the  woman  taken  in 
adultery  was,  "  Go,  and  sin  no  more."  When  Zaccheus  was  converted,  instead 
of  regaling  his  religious  imagination  with  visions  of  the  bliss  of  paradise,  he 
gave  half  his  goods  to  the  poor,  and  to  all  whom  he  had  defrauded  he  restored 
fourfold.  No  wonder  the  people  began  to  ask  whether  the  end  of  the  world 
was  at  hand.  If  a  few  conversions  like  that  were  to  take  place  here  in  Wash- 
ington, we  would  begin  to  suspect  that  the  millennium  was  just  over  the  hill-top. 
Wanted  :  A  religion  that  is  not  only  an  insurance  for  the  next,  but  a  pro- 
gramme for  the  present,  world  ;  that  goes  about  doing  good  now  ;  that  can  ex- 
change its  surplus  for  a  trowel  and  melt  its  dogmas  into  deeds ;  that  founds 
asylums  and  hospitals,  visits  the  sick,  comforts  the  disheartened,  clothes  the 
naked,  and  that  by  thus  making  this  life  worth  while,  makes  heaven  a  surer 
heritage. 

The  new  faiths  of  the  old  Gospel !  Let  our  religion  be  all  of  this  and  it  will 
need  no  further  defence.  We  have  various  kinds  of  evidences  for  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Christian  religion, — prophecies,  miracles,  providences,  evidences 
external  and  internal.  It  seems  to  me  there  should  be  something  in  the  Gospel 
itself  to  certify  its  divinity.  The  sun  does  not  need  to  prove  that  it  shines.  It 
just  shines.  So,  if  Christianity  is  of  divine  origin,  there  should  be  that  within 
it  that  would  ray  out  the  divinity ;  and  there  is.  Let  the  Gospel  be  itself  and  it 
will  need  no  other  apologetics. 

Ninety-nine  hundredths  of  all  the  attacks  made  by  infidelity  are  directed 
against  a  caricature  of  Christianity.  Men  have  gone  down  into  their  prejudices 
and  preconceived  opinions,  and  brought  up  a  conception  which  they  have  called 
the  Gospel,  and  they  have  attacked  that. 

Infidelity  has  taken  it  for  granted  that  Christianity  is  only  a  creed,  a  formula 
of  words,  a  dry,  dead  dogma,  and  it  has  pitched  into  that.  Perhaps  it  has 
rendered'service  of  some  value  in  exposing  mental  frauds  and  heaping  sarcasm 
on  the  Pharisaism  that  professes  more  than  it  puts  in  practice.  Christ  himself 
has  done  as  much. 

But  wait  till  the  creed  becomes  an  experience,  wait  till  the  truth  takes  hold 
of  the  life,  substituting  base  passions,  transforming  character,  begetting  higher 
ideals;  then  infidelity's  guns  are  spiked.  Let  the  sceptic  himself  get  an  experi- 
ence of  God  in  his  own  life,  let  him  form  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
Almighty,  and  he  will  get  a  conviction  of  the  reality  of  religion  which  all  the 
devils  of  doubt  can  not  quench.  Infidelity  has  taken  it  for  granted  that  religion 
is  only  a  restraint,  and  it  has  ridiculed  the  endless  forms,  the  petty  rules,  the 
prayers  and  liturgies,  the  sacraments  and  vestments,  with  which  the  mortal 
would  fain  fit  himself  for  immortality.  But  wait  till  a  man's  religion  becomes 
an  inspiration.  Watch  it  lifting  him  out  of  selfishness  and  vice,  and  sending 
him  out  to  do  the  best  and  most  self-sacrificing  things  for  the  world.  Infidelity 
has  no  ridicule  for  that,  and  its  shaft  falls  harmless  from  an  unnerved  hand. 

Again,  infidelity  has  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  Gospel  is  only  an  insurance 
for  the  world  to  come.  It  has  denounced  the  a  fortiori  God  who  brings  crea- 
tures into  existence  to  be  damned;  or  after  he  has  done  his  utmost,  can  only 
keep  a  certain  proportion  of  them  out  of  the  torments  of  hell-fire.  It  has 
branded  as  infamous  the  God  who,  sitting  safe  in  some  distant  heaven,  sates 
his  greed  for  adoration  on  the  prayers  of  his  victims,  while  humanity  writhes 
in  the  throes  of  innumerable  ills.  _  ,  ^    ,      ,,r  •      •„  •    ^  ,  ,. 

But  wait  till  it  gets  a  better  conception  of  God.  Wait  till  infidelity  sees 
divinity,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  coming  down  into  the  lost  world  to  carry 
out  a  programme  of  infinite  sympathy  and  transcendent  relief  for  suffering 
brothers  and  sisters.  Infidelity  can  not  criticise  that  God.  Then  wait  till  men 
and  women  baptized  with  the  Christ-Spirit  go  about  the  same  blessed  ministry, 
reaching  out  helping  hands  to  all  around  them,  and  finding  God  in  the  pauper 
at  their  door  and  the  consumptive  in  their  hospital.  That  Gospel  is  not  infa- 
mous ;  it  is  divine !  It  needs  no  trumpet  blast  to  announce  it,  for  itself  is  its  suffi- 
cient vindication. 


Fifteenth  Internatiojial  Cofiveution.  323 

You  say  you  can  not  believe  in  tlie  liereafter.  It  is  far  more  important  that 
you  believe  in  the  now  and  the  here. 

These  are  the  new  faiths  of  the  old  Gospel.  They  clothe  Calvary  with 
perennial  rejuvenescence.  This  is  the  sort  of  religion  for  which  this  Christian 
Endeavor  movement  among  the  youth  of  militant  Christendom  stands.  We 
do  not  make  creeds;  we  try  to  be  the  creed.  We  do  formulate  rules  that  shall 
act  as  barriers  to  keep  us  from  falling  into  the  devil's  domains,  but  we  try  to 
get  so  far  over  on  God's  territory  that  no  barrier  shall  ever  be  needed..  We 
have  a  blessed  hope  for  that  life  beyond  death's  shadow,  but  we  believe  it  is  to 
them  who  by  patient  continuance  in  well-doing  seek  for  immortality  that  the 
gates  of  light  swing  large  and  free.  We  believe  that  the  things  which  unite  us 
are  greater  than  the  things  which  divide  us,  and  so  we  stretch  hands  electric 
with  the  fellowship  of  grace  across  denominational  walls,  and  salute  one  another 
in  the  new  faiths  of  the  old  Gospel,—  not  only  a  creed,  but  an  experience;  not 
only  a  restraint,  but  an  inspiration ;  not  only  an  insurance  for  the  next,  but  a 
programme  for  the  present,  world. 

With  that  experience  surging  within  us,  with  that  conduct  making  seraphic 
every  ministry,  and  with  that  destiny  arching  its  glory  across  our  pathway  day 
by  day  may  we  go  back  to  our  churches  and  homes  from  this  place  where  we 
have  seen  the  Lord. 

We  shall  need  him  to  go  with  us.  He  himself  is  the  Gospel.  He  is  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life.  He  is  the  life,  our  experience.  He  is  the  truth,  our 
inspiration.  He  is  the  way,  our  example  as  we  try  day  by  day  to  make  religion 
a  programme  for  this  present  world. 

Don't  you  see  what  it  all  comes  to  at  last?  The  "new  faiths  of  the  old 
Gospel  "  means,  not  the  dead  Christ,  but  the  Christ  of  Galilee  and  Bethlehem 
and  Calvary  alive  in  you  and  me  who  walk  the  earth  to-day. 

There  is  an  old  Indian  legend  that  once  the  Great  Spirit  visited  his  people, 
and,  before  he  went  away,  promised  to  return  again.  That  they  might  recog- 
nize him  on  his  return,  he  left  his  image  on  the  stone  face  of  the  mountain.  It 
is  said  that  one  old  Indian  gazed  constantly  upon  the  stone  face  by  day, 
dreamed  of  it  by  night,  and  looked  often  and  anxiously  into  the  faces  of  his 
brothers  and  sisters  to  see  if  he  could  distinguish  its  lineaments  there.  At  last, 
after  the  nation  had  been  purified  by  peace,  they  looked  into  the  old  prophet's 
face  and  discovered  that  all  unconsciously  it  had  been  transformed  into  the 
likeness  of  the  Great  Spirit,  who  had  returned  and  become  incarnate  in  his  rapt 
follower. 

Only  a  stumbling  story  of  a  heathen  people,  but  it  is  the  parable  of  Christ 
and  his  disciple.  May  we  long  for  his  coming  with  such  intense  yearning  that 
directly  we  shall  be  what  we  would  see,  and  until  the  old,  old  story  of  Samaria 
and  Gennesaret,  of  Capernaum  and  Bethsaida,  and  of  the  Christ  who  glorified 
these  holy  places  with  his  blessed  presence  shall  live  anew  in  the  faiths  of  us 
who  try  to  follow  him. 

The  hymn  "  Scatter  Sunshine  "  was  sung,  and  then  Mr.  Shaw  began 
the  consecration  service  with  a  brief  but  earnest  address  urging  all  his 
hearers  to  take  Jesus  Christ  into  their  lives  and  live  as  he  would  have 
them  live. 

Then  each  state,  territory,  and  foreign  land  represented  in  the  Con- 
vention was  called  upon,  and  one  delegate  from  each  arose  to  his  turn 
and  responded  by  a  verse  of  Scripture,  or  of  a  hymn,  or  by  a  word  of 
greeting  and  love,  renewing  vows  of  loyalty  to  the  Saviour.  In  a  num- 
ber of  instances  the  whole  delegation  arose  and  recited  the  chosen  text 
in  unison,  or  sang  the  verse. 

It  was  a  most  beautiful  and  impressive  service,  and  a  spirit  of  deep 
reverence  pervaded  the  whole  vast  assemblage.      At  the  close  four 


324  Official  Report  of  the 

verses  of  the  hymn  "  Just  As  I  Am  "  were  sung  softly,  sweetly,  as  a 
prayer. 

Then  came  the  Mizpah  benediction,  the  hymn  "  God  Be  with  You 
Till  We  Meet  Again,"  and  the  last  meeting  at  Tent  Williston  was  a 
thing  of  the  past. 

Tent  Endeavor. 

Tent  Endeavor  held  the  largest  crowd  in  its  short  but  eventful  expe- 
rience the  closing  night.  The  throngs  were  early  entering  its  openings, 
and  long  before  the  hour  for  the  meeting  to  begin  arrived  the  streamers 
were  a-tremble  with  the  vibration  of  the  songs  poured  out  beneath 
them.  Half  a  dozen  different  hymns  were  being  sung  simultaneously 
in  different  sections  of  the  audience,  and  yet  no  inharmonious  results 
were  observable.  In  the  seating  of  the  delegates  the  representatives 
of  the  various  States  were  grouped  together,  the  various  State  delega- 
tions having  been  divided  into  three  parts,  so  that  each  could  be 
represented  in  all  of  the  three  tents,  where  such  important  exercises 
were  to  be  held.  When  the  regular  praise  service  began  the  singers 
who  had  been  following  their  own  leaders  joined  right  heartily,  under 
the  baton  of  Mr.  Excell,  and  after  "  Keep  Step  with  the  Master  "  was 
rendered  a  grand  chorus  outpoured,  "  All  Hail  the  Power  of  Jesus' 
Name." 

The  presiding  officer.  Secretary  John  Willis  Baer,  announced  that 
Rev.  F.  W.  Gunsaulus,  D.D.,  of  Chicago,  who  was  expected  to  have 
delivered  the  sermon,  was  unavoidably  absent.  He  read  a  telegram 
announcing  that  death  in  Dr.  Gunsaulus's  church  prevented  his  attend- 
ance, and  a  great  chorus  of  regretful  exclamations  arose,  but  quickly 
changed  to  pleasurable  applause  when  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Patterson,  of 
Toronto,  Can.,  was  announced  to  take  the  noted  Chicago  preacher's 
place.  Mr.  Excell  sang,  by  request,  "  Let  a  Little  Sunshine  In." 
There  was  singing  by  the  Hampton  Octette.  Again  the  Endeavorers 
were  treated  to  the  peculiar  singing  heard  only  among  Southern  negroes. 
Now  plaintive  as  a  wail,  now  joyful  as  a  paean,  the  voices  of  the  boys 
arose  in  quaint  unison,  and  there  was  no  one  in  the  audience,  probably, 
who  was  not  touched  or  impressed  by  the  singing.  The  devotional 
exercises  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Thomas  Marshall,  D.D.,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  closing  with  a  strong  and  impressive  prayer.  Mr.  Baer,  in  a  few 
complimentary  words  about  the  choir,  announced  that  it  would  sing  the 
anthem,  "  Awake  the  Song."  The  music  was  rendered  in  a  truly 
splendid  manner,  and  the  applause  was  so  great  that  the  anthem  was 
repeated.  There  was  more  applause  when  Mr.  Baer  announced  that 
the  composer  of  the  anthem  was  Mr.  Excell. 

That  popular  Canadian  trustee.  Rev.  William  Patterson,  then 
preached  the  sermon.  He  was  received  with  a  glorious  Chautauqua 
salute.  His  eloquent  sermon  was  suggested  by  the  "  prophesying  upon 
dry  bones  "  of  Ezekiel,  and  was  an  earnest  presentation  of  the  power 
we  all  can  gain  through  brave  and  entire  obedience  to  the  Spirit.  "  It 
is  better  to  be  a  man,"  said  he,  "  than  to  be  an  angel.     We  can  do  a 


Fifteenth  Ititemational  Convention.  325 

work  that  angels  cannot  do.  We  can  know  things  that  angels  desire  to 
look  into  ;  for  how  eagerly  the  angels  would  descend  into  the  slums, 
if  it  were  permitted  them,  to  lift  up  the  fallen  !  " 

After  Mr.  Excell's  impressive.singingof  "  It  Pays  To  Serve  Jesus,"  Mr. 
Baer  introduced  the  consecration  meeting. 

The  State  responses  were  much  as  in  Tent  Washington.  After  Flor- 
ida's reply  Dr.  Hoyt  offered  fervent  prayer  for  all  Endeavorers  at 
home,  that  the  spirit  of  the  great  Convention  might  come  upon  them. 
Maine,  where  the  pledge  was  born,  reasserted  her  allegiance  to  its 
promises.  By  raising  their  hands,  all  in  the  great  congregation  joined 
Maine  in  her  vow,  and  Dr.  Muir  sealed  the  vow  with  prayer.  Pennsyl- 
vania's magnificent  pledge  for  work  along  all  lines  of  Christian  En- 
deavor was  also  adopted  by  rising,  Rev.  J.  M.  Lowden  offering  prayer. 

And  in  the  closing  minutes,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  resting  on 
every  heart,  Mr.  Baer  called  upon  all  to  join  him,  prayerfully, — with  full 
resolve,  if  at  all, —  in  a  personal  promise,  before  the  end  of  the  year  to 
speak  to  at  least  one  soul  out  of  Christ,  and  to  try  to  bring  him  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  Saviour's  love.  To  this  high  purpose  nearly  all  the 
assembly  rose.  Dr.  Power,  of  Washington,  prayed  for  (lod's  blessing 
on  the  great  endeavor,  Mizpah  was  pronounced,  and  with  Mr.  Patter- 
son's benediction  the  blessed  service  was  at  an  end. 

Tent  Washington. 

It  was  Tent  Washington  that  saw  the  greatest,  of  all  the  great  meet- 
ings,—  a  crowd  that  stretched  out  into  the  White  Lot  beyond  the  walls 
of  the  tent ;  large  state  and  provincial  delegations,  and  many  foreign 
representatives.  Rev.  Dr.  McKim,  of  Washington,  and  Rev,  A.  L. 
Geggie,  of  Truro,  N.  S.,  conducted  the  opening  devotional  exercises. 
The  spiritual  song  service,  and  Dr.  Clark's  impressive  opening  words, 
helped  to  prepare  the  vast  congregation  for  Bishop  Baldwin's  message 
of  power,  and  for  the  covenant  time  that  ensued.  "  Ye  shall  receive 
power  "  (Acts  i.  8)  was  the  text  of  the  sermon  preached  by  Rt.  Rev. 
M.  S.  Baldwin,  of  London,  Ont.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Huron. 

Sermon  by  Rt.  Rev.  M.  S.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  Huron,  Ont. 

My  Dear  Christian  Friends  :  —  I  understand  that  this  is  a  consecration  ser- 
vice, and  the  text  I  have  therefore  chosen  is  one  which  speaks  of  power.  It  is 
from  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  eighth  verse  : 

"  But  I  shall  receive  power,  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  thee  :  and 
ye  shall  be  my  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  Judaea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto 
the  ends  of  the  earth." 

When  we  look  up  on  a  starry  night  upon  the  sky  it  seems  as  if  the  stars  are 
scattered  in  rich  profusion,  without  order  and  without  symmetry;  but  the  as- 
tronomer tells  us  that  on  the  contrary  all  those  bodies  move  in  the  most  exqui- 
site harmony,  and  have  so  moved  for  ages  past.  It  is  just  thus  with  the  Word 
of  God.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  many  books,  a  great  many  subjects  and 
themes,  but  the  Bible  contains  but  three  histories.  Now  the  three  histories 
which  it  contains  are  as  follows  :  the  history  of  Israel,  the  history  of  the  Cliurch 
of  God,  and  the  history  of  the  governmental  nations  of  the  earth.  Now  these 
three  histories  move  around  one  common  centre,  and  that  common  centre  is  the 


326  Official  Report  of  the 

stone  Jesus  Christ,  the  stone  which  the  builders  refused  but  which  God  has 
made  the  corner  and  glorious  stone  of  Christ.  Now  let  us  observe  that  those 
three  histories  revolve  around  that  one  centre.  Thus  Israel  to-day  stumbles 
upon  that  stone  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  Israel  in  her  synagogue  is  saying,  The 
Messiah  has  not  come,  because  Israel  stumbles  upon  this  glorious  stone. 
Then  we  come  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  it  is  built  upon  this  stone,  and  the 
Church's  one  foundation,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord;  and  when  we  come  to  the 
governmental  nations  of  the  earth  we  find  that  the  stone  which  is  cut  out  with 
hands  is  that  stone  which  will  destroy  all  human  authority,  overturn  all  power, 
and  constitute  that  one  stone,  the  solitary  earth,  and  that  stone  is  Jesus  Christ, 
so  that  to-day  we  find  that  all  lines  in  the  Bible  converge  upon  that  one  glori- 
ous Being,  one  majestic  object,  and  that  object  our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ.  Now, 
bearing  this  in  mind,  let  us  come  to  ask.  What  is  power .''  Now  just  as  in  the 
Bible  there  is  one  centre,  so  we  find  that  God  in  the  Holy  Ghost  has  come  to 
magnify  that  one  centre,  that  the  whole  work  which  he  does  upon  earth,  and 
in  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  is  to  exalt  Jesus  Christ,  to  uplift  him,  to  make 
him  Lord  of  all  ;  and  therefore  when  we  go  into  the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform 
with  some  other  object  before  us,  to  endorse  this  Church,  to  uplift  this  commu- 
nity, to  teach  this  science,  to  advance  this  theory,  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  can  not 
and  will  not  help  that  work,  and  it  must  pass  with  the  weakness  which  it  de- 
serves. But  I  will  say  to  all  Christian  workers  that  the  first  thought  to  bear  in 
mind  is  this :  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  has  given  to  those  consecrated  men, 
and  to  those  women  whose  lives,  whose  voices,  whose  beings,  God  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  can  use  to  the  personal  exaltation  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Bear  this 
in  mind.  Let  me  ask  you  in  the  next  place  to  notice  how  it  is  he  works.  Let 
us  look  at  the  first  dispensation,  the  dispensation  of  the  Father.  It  was  the 
time  of  preparation,  the  time  of  growth,  of  expansion.  Then  came  the  short 
dispensation  of  the  Son,  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  That  was  short,  but  it  never 
was  intended  to  be  permanent,  and  I  would  ask  you  to  notice  that  however  de- 
sirable our  Lord's  personal  acquaintance  might  have  been  it  taught  them  that 
there  was  something  better,  something  even  better  than  his  own  dear  holy 
presence. 

And  what  is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  dispensation  in  which  we 
are  now  living.''  It  is  summed  up  in  this  sentence  :  "God  was  in  you."  It  is 
this  idea  that  alone  dominates.  In  that  first  dispensation  God  was  above ;  in  the 
second  he  was  by  the  man's  side  ;  in  the  third  dispensation  God  is  within  us.  So 
that  a  man  who  is  holy  is  a  man  in  whom  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  dwells  in  power, 
and  it  is  only  when  we  grasp  this  truth  that  we  grasp  what  power  means.  It  is 
God,  dear  friends,  swelling  within  you.  Now  in  the  next  place,  let  me  ask  you 
if  you  observe  how  he  manifests  himself?  There  was  only  one  building  ever 
erected  which  was  without  windows,  at  least  intended  for  man,  and  that  was 
the  Tabernacle,  in  the  first  instance,  and  the  Temple  in  the  second.  Now 
when  we  came  to  the  Tabernacle,  we  found,  as  we  studied  the  Word  of  God, 
that  there  were  absolutely  no  side  lines,  no  windows,  no  piercings  in  the  wall, 
no  light  from  the  roof,  no  light  anywhere  from  the  outside,  but  you  came  into 
a  room  that  was  still  bright,  and  that  brightness  came  from  the  Jews  called 
the  Minorah,  that  is,  the  seven  bright  candlesticks,  and  that  was  the  light  of 
the  sanctuary.  Now  let  me  say  that  in  the  Church  of  the  living  God  there 
ought  to  be  no  windows ;  we  ought  to  receive  no  light  from  the  windows.  I 
wish  to  be  distinctly  understood  here.  In  the  ancient  Tabernacle,  the  high 
priest  and  the  priest  did  not  learn  from  Israel.  They  did  not  learn  God's 
efforts  from  the  nation  at  large;  they  learned  it  from  the  light  of  God  himself, 
for  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  was  afire.  Now  when  we  come  to  the  Church  of 
the  living  God  to-day,  we  find  people  coming  and  saying  you  want  business 
principles.  I  wish  to  say  that  business  principles  are  the  ruin  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  We  want  no  business  principles  if  the  Church  is  to  do  the  work  of 
God  and  to  be  mighty,  by  the  pure,  the  blessed,  theme  that  comes  from  the 
truth  itself.  How  often  is  it  that  some  grand  church,  perhaps,  with  a  huge 
congregation,  has  fallen  into  debt,  or  perhaps  broken  down  from  some  cause 
or  another,  and  there  is  a  great  gathering  of  people,  and  some  one  stands  up  and 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  327 

he  says  to  them,  "  Well,  you  must  introduce  business  principles  if  you  wish  to 
succeed ; "  and  he  suggests  a  larger  organ,  a  greater  choir,  and  a  more  splendid 
building,  and  this  is  the  outside  light.  These  are  the  windows  that  men  put 
into  the  fabric,  but  which  are  unhallowed  in  the  sight  of  God,  which,  let  me 
say,  that  power  will  come  when  the  Church  kneels  down  and  discards  all 
human  teaching  and  against  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  What  is  needed 
is  a  deeper  piety,  a  profounder  grasp  of  the  truth  that  is  in  Jesus,  and  then 
members  will  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  come  upon  them. 

Again,  let  me  ask  you  to  notice  in  the  next  place  how  that  blessed  Spirit 
works  in  regard  to  the  individual.  We  shall  receive  power.  Now  power  is 
never  given  except  for  activity.  God  gives  nothing  to  man  who  is  going  to  idle, 
to  waste,  or  to  squander  time.  The  arm  that  is  slung  is  not  the  arm  to  be  used, 
and  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  never  comes  except  to  help  that  great  Church  of 
God,  and  he  never  comes  to  help  us  except  as  we  are  going  forth  to  teach  the 
language,  to  gather  and  prepare  the  sheaves  against  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  A  regiment  that  is  lying  in  barracks  wants  no 
ammunition  for  the  war  ;  it  is  in  the  day  of  battle,  it  is  for  the  campaign,  and  it 
is  for  the  day  of  trial  he  needs  to  be  armed  with  all  the  necessary  adjuncts  for 
successful  fight ;  and  so  it  is  that  the  ideal  Church  will  rest  and  rot  under  the 
sun,  but  the  weak,  as  far  as  regards  human  oversight,  will  grow  strong,  and  that 
is  putting  forth  its  power  for  the  conquest  of  the  world  and  to  gather  souls 
against  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now  I  would  ask  you  to  notice. 
Christians,  how  he  watches  us  individually.  I  hear  sometimes  Christians  say, 
"  We  want  to  get  more  into  the  world,  we  want  to  become  more  detached  from 
the  things  of  time  and  of  tradition,  and  it  is  this  tliat  our  consecration  meeting 
is  for."  Let  me  say,  dear  friends,  that  the  only  way  we  can  become  detached  is 
by  becoming  attached  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  You  cannot  hold  together  the 
world  until  you  are  made  one  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  therefore  growth 
in  Christ.  Becoming  detached  from  the  world  is  by  the  process  of  growing  in 
union,  in  oneness,  in  the  blessed  perfectness  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us 
ask  ourselves  how  does  the  winter  go ;  how  does  it  come  to  us  and  how  does  it 
go? 

And  I  would  ask  you,  in  the  last  place,  to  observe  that  which  is  the  work  of 
God,  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  has  to  give  us  a  power  to  do  three  things,  and  if 
you  will  look  at  those  three  you  will  see  they  are  just  what  the  Lord  taught. 
They  are,  first,  to  teach  us  to  deny  ourselves,  to  take  up  our  cross  and  follow 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Now,  people  say,  "  Well,  we  do  deny  ourselves."  Here  is 
a  man  who  says,  "I  will  give  up  tobacco ;"  another  man  says  he  will  give  up  wine ; 
another  man  says  he  will  give  up  some  luxury;  but  that  is  not  denying  ourselves, 
that  is  denying  ourselves  the  use  of  tobacco,  the  use  of  wine,  the  use  of  luxury. 
But  how  did  Peter  deny  our  Lord?  Why  he  cursed  and  he  swore,  and  he  said, 
"  I  do  not  know  the  man."  Now  our  Lord  would  have  us  deny  ourselves  and 
say  we  do  not  know  ourselves,  that  we  are  willing  just  to  go  where  he  pleases. 
We  are  to  deny  ourselves,  and  say,  "  Not  my  will,  but  thine,  to  be  done."  Look 
at  those  two  Moravian  missionaries  who  went  to  the  Lazar-House  of  South 
Africa ;  they  went  to  the  leper-house  there  and  said,  "  We  wish  to  go  and  preach 
to  your  lepers."  "  Well,"  they  said,  "  you  can  not  enter  here  because  you  would 
take  the  infection  with  you."  "But,"  they  said,  "we  are  anxious  to  go." 
"  Well,"  they  said,  "  if  you  go  to  the  lepers  you  must  stay  with  them."  They 
said,  "  For  how  long?"  "Well,"  they  said,  "  until  the  leprosy  blanches  your 
own  cheek  and  you  lay  down  and  die  as  lepers  yourselves;"  and  they  looked 
out  on  that  great  world,  and  then  they  looked  up  at  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
they  said,  "  For  that,  O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  will  go."  And  they  went  there 
and  preached  the  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  told  it  to  dying  lepers, 
from  year  to  year,  until  the  leprosy  palsied  their  arms  and  made  white  their 
cheeks,  and  at  last  laid  them  low  in  the  lepers'  grave.  Yes,  that  is  denying  our- 
selves, and  we  ought  to  take  up  the  Lord's  cross,  our  cross.  We  are  to  take  up 
the  cross  he  gives  us,  not  his  cross,  because  his  cross  was  dying  for  a  lost 
world,  but  the  cross  he  gives  us,  and  follow  him.  Young  people  of  the 
Christian  Endeavor,  are  you  ready  to  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ?     Look  at 


328  Official  Report  of  the 

the  depth  from  which  he  came  to  the  height  to  which  he  rose.  Dear  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Endeavor,  follow  Jesus,  and  the  Lord  God,  the  Holy 
Ghost,  will  strengthen  you.  He  says,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  that,  for 
my  strength  will  be  made  perfect  in  your  weakness,"  and  when  he  comes  it  will 
be  to  anoint  you  to  be  prophet  and  to  be  king  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  world  is  dying  all  about  you;  opportunities  lie  on  every  side;  there  is  a 
multitude  of  voices  saying  to  you  everywhere,  "  Go,  for  the  fields  are  wide  and 
the  harvest  rich,"  and  I  wish  to  say  however  weak,  however  feeble,  however 
helpless,  you  may  be,  God  will  give  you  power  as  you  go  forth  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  let  me  conclude  by  saying  this  is  a  message  that  you 
have  to  tell, —  tell  the  lost,  tell  the  sick, —  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanses 
from  all  sins.  Tell  the  lost  that  God  says,  "  Come  and  let  us  read  together, 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow  ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson  they  shall  be  as  wool." 

The  doctrine  of  substitution  is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  When  Bar- 
abbus  came  out  he  said,  no  doubt,  to  himself,  "  Am  I  afraid,  am  I  afraid  'i "  and 
people  gathered  about  him  and  said, "  Barabbus,  you  are  afraid,"  and  he  said, 
"  Who  made  me  afraid  ?  "  And  they  said,  "  You  see  that  lone  man  there,  that 
lone  man  of  whom  all  Israel  has  heard,  who  went  about  doing  good,  Barabbus, 
he  is  to  die  in  thy  stead  and  be  crucified  in  thy  room."  Young  man.  tell  it  to 
the  world  about  you,  and  God  will  bless  this  Gospel, — "that  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life."  There  are  some  to  whom  the  Lord  will 
say  at  the  last,  "  Come,  ye  blessed,  receive  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you ;  " 
some  that  he  will  bid  sit  on  his  throne;  some  upon  whose  heads  he  will  put 
crowns;  and  some  that  shall  reign  as  kings  in  heaven  forever  —  and  who  are 
they  1  Not  the  young  men  and  young  women,  the  rich,  the  great,  or  the  honor- 
able of  the  world,  but  those  dear  servants  of  his  that  uplifted  the  banner 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  world. 

"  Saved  by  Grace  "  appropriately  sang  the  chorus  after  the  sermon. 
Dr.  Clark  then  took  charge  of  the  meeting,  urging  that  the  delegates 
let  nothing  come  between  them  and  God. 

Remarks  of  President  Francis  E.  Clark,  D.D. 

And  now,  dear  friends,  we  come  to  this  hour  that  we  have  been  looking  to  for 
so  many  days,  this  crowning  hour.  I  always  come  to  it  myself,  when  it  is  my 
duty  to  lead  the  consecration  meeting,  with  trembling.  And  I  say,  "  Who  is  suf- 
ficient for  these  things.?"  1  fear  that  I  may  get  in  the  way,  that  something  or 
somebody  may  get  between  us  and  God.  I  fear  that  some  words  may  not  be 
spoken  to  his  glory.  Yet,  I  do  not  know  that  we  need  have  these  fears,  for  I 
think  that  this  may  be  of  all  services  the  most  simple,  the  most  natural,  as  it  is 
the  most  sweet.  We  have  come  to-night  to  the  close  of  the  Convention.  We 
have  been  preparing  for  it  during  all  these  days;  surely  we  are  ready  for  it  now. 
There  are  but  three  things  for  us  to  do.  I  believe  that  a  true  consecration  meet- 
ing must  have  an  upward  look,  if  it  would  be  a  sincere  consecration  meeting. 
If  we  are  looking  at  each  other,  or  thinking  of  each  other;  if  we  are  thinking 
of  an  eloquent  address,  or  what  somebody  is  to  say,  it  will  not  be  sincere  in  our 
heart  that  we  can  give  our  word  and  devotion.  But  if  first  of  all  we  look  up  to 
God — -O  friends,  that  is  it,  look  up  to  God,  and  I  pray  you  in  these  opening 
moments  look  up  to  him,  for  the  presence  of  God  is  here  this  evening.  He  is 
looking  at  us;  we  may  look  up  into  his  very  face  to-night.  For  a  moment,  in 
the  stillness  of  this  hour,  look  up  into  God's  face.  It  demands  something  else, 
it  seems  to  me  ;  it  demands  not  only  an  upward  look,  but  an  attentive  ear.  It 
demands  that  we  ask  the  question,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  We 
can  not  consecrate  ourselves  until  we  have  made  that  plea  and  asked  that  question, 
—  "Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  O  friends,  there  is  something  for 
each  one;  why  is  it  that  you  liave  come  here?    The  registration  committee  tells 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  329 

us  that  there  are  between  30,000  and  40,000  Endeavorers  in  town.  Do  not  think 
of  the  masses,  but  think  of  yourselves;  why  are  you  here?  How  does  it  happen 
that  out  of  the  million  of  Endeavorers  in  America  you  are  here,  you  are  one; 
what  does  it  mean,  this  high  privilege?  You  have  come  here,  one  out  of  a  hun- 
dred, one  out  of  a  thousand,  perhaps,  from  your  section.  Why  is  it?  In  order 
that  you  may  hear  God  speak,  and  that  you  may  take  home  the  message.  You 
come  with  a  tremendous  responsibility,  the  weight  of  responsibility  that  rests 
upon  you  who  can  come  to  such  convention  and  such  a  consecration  meeting. 
You  have  something  to  hear;  you  have  a  message  given  to  you;  you  have  some- 
thing to  take  home,  or  you  are  recreant  to  your  high  trust  and  to  your  high 
privilege.  Christian  Endeavorers,  listen,  listen  if  you  would  consecrate  your- 
selves. What  has  God  to  say  to  you?  What  have  you  to  say  to  God?  Ask 
the  question,  "What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?"  and  now  listen  for  an  answer. 
And  one  other  thing  is  to  obey  when  you  have  prayed.  Oh,  did  you  not  hear 
in  that  moment  of  silence  some  word  ?  Did  you  not  think  of  some  new  thing  at 
home,  of  something  for  your  church,  for  your  pastor,  for  your  weekly  reports  to 
your  meeting,  for  your  Sunday  school,  for  some  associate  member,  for  some 
who  have  not  come  to  Christ?  Did  you  not  hear  God  speak  to  you  and  give 
you  a  message  for  some  one,  tell  you  some  thing? 

And  then  the  remaining  thing  is  to  go  and  do.  We  have  heard,  we  have 
sung,  we  have  talked  together,  we  have  inspired  each  other's  hearts,  we  have 
lifted  up  our  eyes,  we  have  listened  with  open  ears,  and  now  go  and  do  !  Do 
you  remember  what  Dr.  Bonner  says  about  the  apostles  as  he  imagines  them 
talking  together  on  their  way  to  Galilee?  He  said  to  them,"!  go  into  Gal- 
ilee; meet  me  there,"  and  they  walked  along  on  that  long  journey  to  meet 
Christ  in  Galilee,  and  Dr.  Bonner  imagines  them  talking  together,  and  Peter 
says  —  what  more  can  he  say?  —  "  He  has  told  us  of  his  love.  He  has  said,  '  I 
call  you  no  longer  servants,  but  friends. '  He  has  given  us  his  love."  "Yes," 
says  John,  "  and  not  only  that,  but  he  has  told  us  of  the  peace  which  he  gives,  the 
peace  which  surpasseth  the  understanding ;  what  more  is  there  that  he  can  give  ?  " 
"  Yes,"  says  James,  "not  only  has  he  given  us  peace  and  love,  but  he  has  given 
us  joy."  And  they  wonder  what  our  Lord  has  to  say  to  them  that  he  has  not 
said  to  them,  and  they  go  to  Galilee,  and  he  meets  them  there  and  he  says  to 
them  —  what?  Nothing  about  peace,  nothing  about  joy,  nothing  about  love. 
He  has  said  all  these  things,  but  there  is  a  more  imperative  message  and  a 
more  important  message  for  them  just  then  ;  he  says,  "  Go,  go,  go  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  my  Gospel  to  every  creature."  So,  Christian  Endeavorers, 
he  has  been  talking  to  us  about  peace,  joy,  and  love,  the  sweet  thought  that 
surpasseth  understanding,  the  love  which  is  his  to  give,  the  joy  which  has  made 
our  hearts  swell  in  this,  the  most  spiritual  of  all  the  conventions  that  the  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Society  has  perhaps  ever  held.  And  now  there  is  something 
more.  In  this  closing  consecration  meeting  he  comes  to  us  with  another  voice. 
We  go  to  our  homes.  Some  of  us  leave  in  an  hour's  time,  and  the  most  of  us 
to-morrow,  and  the  message  is,  "  Go,  go,  go,  Christian  Endeavorers  ;  you  have 
heard  of  peace,  joy,  and  love,  all  of  these  things  have  come  to  you  in  the  Con- 
vention, and  now  go  and  preach  my  Gospel,  and  do  my  will."  O  Endeav- 
orers, in  this  consecration  hour,  in  this  closing  blessed  service,  as  you  look  up 
and  as  you  listen,  will  you  hear?  Will  you  obey  ?  Will  you  go?  Will  you  go  and 
do  his  will  ?    God  grant  it;  God  grant  it.     Go  and  do  his  will.     God  grant  it. 

In  hushed  and  reverent  tones  "  Just  As  I  Am"  was  sung,  and  the  uni- 
ted prayer  was  offered  aloud  in  concert,  "  Create  within  me  a  clean 
heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me."  "  O  God,  open 
thou  my  lips  and  my  mouth  shall  show  forth  thy  praise." 

So  was  introduced  the  summoning  of  the  hosts  to  the  altar  of  their 
vows.  South  Carolina,  the  first  State  called,  declares  the  Lord  its  rock 
and  fortress.  Wisconsin  in  an  original  poem  proclaims  "Forward" 
its  watchword.     West  Virginia,  a  goodly  delegation,  quotes  Paul's,  "  I 


330  Official  Report  of  the 

press  "  as  its  motto,  and  sings,  "  We  're  Marching  Upward  to  Zion." 
"Washington  for  Christ!"  "I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ," 
cries  the  next  State.  Virginia,  a  solid  delegation  near  the  rear  of  the 
tent,  takes  as  its  own  the  motto,  "  This  one  thing  I  do."  "  I  can  not 
be  everywhere,  I  can  be  somewhere ;  I  can  not  do  everything,  I  can  do 
something ;  what  I  can  do  I  ought  to  do,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I 
will,"  is  the  beautiful  vow  recorded  by  Vermont.  Utah  follows  with  a 
word  of  Scripture,  Texas  sings  a  verse  of  its  noble  State  song,  and 
then  Tennessee  arises  and  expresses  its  gratitude  to  God  for  his  an- 
swer to  prayer  in  giving  it  Nashville,  '98.  The  State's  familiar  and 
impressive  response,  "Where  He  Leads  Me,  I  Will  Follow,"  is 
sung  with  fine  feeling.  "  South  Dakota  for  Christ  "  follows,  with  the 
motto,  "  Not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister."  In  excellent  uni- 
son Rhode  Island  quotes  a  verse  from  the  Psalms,  and  Pennsylvania's 
multitude  arise  and  pledge  themselves  to  remain  true  to  their  covenant 
obligations, —  devotion  to  Christ,  church  loyalty,  soul-winning,  mission- 
ary extension,  good  citizenship,  and  Christian  fellowship.  Oregon's 
one  delegate  vows  "This  one  thing,"  and  Ohio,  a  great  company,  says 
of  the  Lord  that  he  is  their  strength,  their  refuge,  their  fortress. 
North  Dakota  sweetly  sings,  "  My  Life,  My  Love,  I  Give  to  Thee," 
New  York's  large  delegation  quotes  the  Convention  motto,  "  Not  by 
might,  nor  by  power,"  and  New  Mexico  sings,  "Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee."  The  orange  and  black  of  the  New  Jersey  flags  are  upraised  as 
the  host  of  delegates  sing  softly,  "  My  Jesus,  I  Love  Thee.  ' 

The  home  friends  and  the  Endeavorers  the  world  around,  who  could 
not  share  the  Convention's  blessings,  are  remembered  in  special  prayer, 
and  the  roll-call  is  continued.  New  Hampshire,  which  re-afiirms  the 
pledge,  Nevada,  Nebraska,  Montana,  Missouri,  Mississippi,  Minnesota, 
and  Michigan  are  called,  and  most  of  them  quote  Holy  Writ  as  consecra- 
tion vows,  and  Missouri  adds  a  verse  of  "  Missouri  for  Christ."  A 
special  consecration  hymn,  written  for  this  Convention,  is  sung  by 
Massachusetts  to  the  tune  of  the  Portuguese  Hymn.  "The  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  "  Maryland,  and  she  thrills  the  vast  concourse  of 
people  by  her  "  Maryland,  My  Maryland."  Maine  repeats  the  first 
clause  of  the  pledge  ;  Louisiana  is  "for  Christ  and  the  Church  ;  "  Ken- 
tucky sings  its  beautiful  State  hymn,  to  the  tune  "  My  Old  Kentucky 
Home."  Another  State  song,  "  Iowa  for  Christ,"  succeeds,  and  Indiana 
proclaims  its  Endeavorers  ambassadors  for  Christ.  Illinois's  State 
president  speaks  a  few  sentences,  and  the  delegation  sings,  "  My  Faith 
Looks  Up  to  Thee." 

Idaho  and  Georgia  have  Scriptural  vows,  and  Florida  avers  that 
"  the  fairest  of  our  flowers  are  lives  of  noble  endeavor ;  our  sweetest 
fruits,  their  deeds  of  loving  service  ;  and  our  brightest  sunshine,  that 
which  streams  into  our  souls  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness."  "  Flo- 
rida for  Christ !  "  Eight  Floating  Society  Endeavorers  find  God  in 
"the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,"  and  sing  prayerfully,  "Jesus,  Saviour, 
Pilot  Me."  This  prompts  the  Convention  to  unite  in  special  prayer 
for  sailors  and  all  upon  the  deep  waters. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  331 

"  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,"  says  Delaware.  Connecticut  would  pre- 
sent its  bodies  as  living  sacrifices.  Colorado  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ,  and  would  lift  up  the  Saviour.  Canada's  united  and  robust 
delegation  responds  in  vigorous  tones  with  the  first  two  verses  of  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Romans.  California's  young  people,  realizing  their 
especial  responsibilities  for  next  year,  look  to  the  Lord,  who  says,  "  I 
will  keep."  "Arkansas  for  Christian  Endeavor"  cries  one  of  the 
smaller  delegations,  which  then  sings  "  My  Faith  Looks  Up  to  Thee." 
The  associate  members  at  this  point  are  remembered  in  prayer.  Ari- 
zona next  responds  with  a  faithful  saying,  John  v.  4,  and  the  last 
State,  Alabama,  takes  as  its  own  the  ambition  that  Paul  records  in  2 
Cor.  V.  9.  Afterward  a  soldier  spoke  the  desire  of  the  Christian  En- 
deavorers  in  the  army. 

What  follows  graphically  portrays  the  universal  fellowship,  and 
moved  all  hearts.  Foreign  lands  were  asked  for  a  consecration  senti- 
ment. Mexico  is  the  first  to  respond.  Great  Britain  follows,  impres- 
sively quoting  the  Saviour's  prayer  "that  they  all  may  be  one." 
Australia  has  a  message  from  the  Book,  and  Persia  declares  that  "  the 
ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  God."  A  thrill  of  emotion 
passes  over  the  meeting  at  Turkey's  significant  response,  given  by  an 
Armenian  :  "  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ .-'  shall 
tribulation,  or  distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or 
peril,  or  sword  ?  Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquer- 
ors through  him  that  loved  us." 

A  native  Chinaman  speaks  for  the  delegation  from  China,  "  Let  all 
the  people  praise  thee."  Japan  prays  to  be  consecrated  to  the  Lord's 
service;  Liberia  sends  a  written  response;  Germany  answers  in  the 
tongue  of  the  fatherland  ;  and  Africa,  with  missionary  zeal,  says,  "Let 
the  old  pray  and  give  ;  let  the  young  prepare  and  go."  The  District  of 
Columbia,  the  Convention's  hosts,  came  next,  with  the  song  by  the 
chorus  and  other  Convention  workers,  "  My  Life,  My  Love,  I  Give  to 
Thee." 

Thus  end  the  voluntary  responses.  The  sense  of  sacredness  and 
nearness  to  the  Master  that  has  pervaded  the  meeting  is  increased, 
and  the  verses  that  Dr.  Clark  afterward  gives  are  repeated  with  fervor. 
To  the  choir  he  suggests,  "  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord  as  long  as  I 
live."  To  the  clergymen,  the  shepherds  of  the  Christian  Endeavor 
fiock,  is  given  the  Scripture,  "  Make  me  to  understand  the  way  of  thy 
precepts  ;  so  shall  I  talk  of  thy  wondrous  works." 

Are  the  young  men  in  the  Church  ?  Behold  the  multitude  that  next 
rises,  and  let  your  heart  take  courage.  Thousands  of  bright,  strong, 
manly  young  men  get  up  and  quote,  "  I  have  written  unto  you,  young 
men,  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the  Word  of  God  abideth  in  you,  and 
ye  have  overcome  the  wicked  one."  A  still  greater  mass  of  people 
arise  when  the  young  women  are  requested  to  stand  and  testify,  "  A 
woman  that  feareth  the  Lord,  she  shall  be  praised." 

There  are  yet  other  pledges,  and  the  service  grows  in  intensity.  The 
active  members  of  the  Society  promise,  "  I  will  never  forget  thy  pre- 


332  Official  Report  of  the 

cepts,  for  with  them  thou  hast  quickened  me."  In  response  to  the 
appeal  to  "  all  who  love  the  Lord  Christ,"  nearly  the  entire  company 
recites,  "  Lord,  thou  art  the  strength  of  my  life  ;  of  whom  shall  I  be 
afraid  ?  "  In  tender  tones  Dr.  Clark  asks  that  the  associate  members 
unite  in  the  song  that  all  are  reverently  to  sing,  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee." 

The  last  moments  have  come.  Every  one  is  standing.  As  a  final, 
complete,  and  comprehensive  covenant,  the  thousands  upraise  their 
right  hands  —  what  a  sight  it  is  !  —  and  repeat  the  first  clause  of  the 
pledge,  holding  their  hands  aloft  while  a  prayer  of  consecration  is 
offered.  How  many  associate  members  take  this  vow  for  the  first  time 
only  the  watching  angels  know.  The  gavel  strikes  the  platform  railing 
in  token  of  the  adjournment  of  the  Fifteenth  International  Christian 
Endeavor  Convention.  "The  Lord  watch  between  me  and  thee,  when 
we  are  absent  one  from  another"  is  repeated,  and  with  "At  the  Cross" 
on  their  lips  and  in  their  souls,  the  delegates  go  out  into  the  night,  with 
hearts  enlarged  and  purposeful. 


Fifteenth  International  Convention.  3S3 


EVANGELISTIC  MEETINGS. 

"  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,"  was 
the  District  of  Columbia  consecration  verse  at  Boston  last  year.  Relying  upon 
the  principle  contained  in  that  verse,  and  upon  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  constant 
direction  and  results,  the  work  was  undertaken  and  carried  on. 

Through  correspondence  with  presidents  and  secretaries  of  local  unions, 
leaders  for  evangelistic  meetings  were  appointed,  and  companies  organized 
several  weeks  before  the  Convention.  In  order  to  equip  themselves  for  the 
work  these  bands  held  meetings  for  prayer  and  consultation  before  starting,  and 
on  the  way  to  Washington.  By  far  thfe  most  effective  work  was  done  by  those 
bands  whose  leaders  had  time  to  learn  their  place  of  assignment  and  acquaint 
their  workers  with  the  nature  of  the  service  expected  of  them.  While  not  at  all 
underrating  the  labor  of  others,  the  preparation  for  the  campaign  the  Chicago, 
New  York  City,  and  New  Jersey  bands  rendered  was  especially  valuable. 
Meetings  of  remarkable  power  were  held  by  these  workers  at  the  new  post-office 
building,  Central  Power-station,  jail,  workhouse,  and  in  the  "  Division,"  the 
scarlet  plague  spot  of  Washington.  AH  of  the  bands  that  filled  their  appoint- 
ments did  nobly,  as  visible  results  clearly  show.  Over  three  hundred  were 
personally  dealt  with  ;  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  requested  prayers  for  them- 
selves ;  eighty-one  manifested  deep  concern  for  their  souls;  and  twenty-seven 
professed  to  give  themselves  to  Jesus.  (These  figures  do  not  include  the  large 
Monday  meetings  at  Central  Union  Mission,  the  leaders  of  which  did  not 
report.)  But  neither  statistics  nor  time  will  reveal  all  the  good  done.  In  all 
there  were  eighty-three  meetings  held,  mostly  in  open  air.  The  audiences  num- 
bered from  twenty  to  two  thousand,  aggregating  twenty-five  thousand.  Inside 
meetings  were  held  at  homes  and  hospitals,  jail,  workhouse,  chapels,  missions, 
in  two  Sunday  schools,  and  in  four  churches  on  Sunday  evening,  taking  the 
place  of  the  regular  evening  service.  There  were  three  Gospel  teniperance 
meetings  held  by  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Ferguson.  The  leader's  reports  indicate  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  present  in  power  at  nearly  every  one  of  these  meetings. 

From  one  mission  chapel  came  the  report,  "Thirteen  requests  for  prayer; 
many  outside  quietly  listening,"  from  another,  "Several  gave  themselves  in  full 
surrender  to  God."  From  the  two  Sunday  schools  and  four  churches  good 
reports  have  been  received.  From  the  jail  and  workhouse  the  report  is,  "  Most 
wonderful  meeting  we  ever  attended.  The  prisoners  cried  aloud  for  mercy,  and 
testified  to  the  saving  power  of  Jesus.  Tracts  and  Testaments  were  given; 
thirty  requests  for  prayer." 

From  the  Division  work  the  report  was  "One  meeting;  power  of  God  won- 
derfully manifested."  Another,  "  Nineteen  requests  for  prayer ;  five  professed 
surrender;  nine  names  and  addresses  of  anxious  ones  secured."  Another, 
"Thirty  requests  for  prayer;  nineteen  seekers'  cards  signed."  Still  another, 
"Very  peculiar  meeting;  hand-to-hand  work  by  women  with  women  and  men 
with  men.  Fully  one  hundred  persons  spoken  to  and  plead  with;  fifteen 
requests  for  prayer;  two  seekers  spoke."  At  one  of  these  Division  meetings 
(which  were  held  from  ten  to  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  using  the  Gospel  wagon); 
"a  young  lady  worker  noticed  a  young  man  standing  in  the  crowd  while  '  Sun- 
shine' was  being  sung,  apparently  interested.  The  leader  was  directed  by  her 
to  him.  He  was  prayed  with  there,  and  at  the  hotel  where  these  workers  were 
stopping.  He  gave  himself  to  Christ,  and  later  went  down  into  the  Division, 
where  he  was  well  known,  and  gave  his  testimony.  He  is  of  good  family,  and 
holds  a  responsible  position  in  a  large  business  house."  At  the  new  post-office 
there  were  several  gangs  of  men,  one  gang  composed  of  Catholics.  When  the 
meeting  began,  this  gang,  or  their  boss,  turned  on  steam  to  disturb  the  service; 
but  every  time  he  did  that  the  Endeavorers  struck  up  a  hymn,  and  finally  they 
tired  him  out  and  the  meeting  ended  in  "good  cheer  and  hand-shaking  all 
around."  * 


334  Official  Report  of  the 

On  one  of  the  bicycle  runs,  a  party  took  refuge  from  a  shower  in  the  14th 

Street  car-barns,  and  while  waiting  for  the  rain  to  subside  held  a  praise  service. 

Miss  Deborah  K.  Knox, of  Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  who  led  the  meetings  at  Bethany 

Chapel,  besides  doing  valuable  personal  work,  distributed  a  large  number  of 

tracts. 

The  New  Jersey  Endeavorers  held  a  meeting  at  the  Newsboys'  Home,  which 
will  result  in  the  formation  of  a  Junior  Society  there. 

Rev.  E.  D.  Bailey,  of  the  Central  Union  Mission,  writes :  "  The  evangelistic 
services  at  the  Mission  were  among  the  best  of  the  Convention.  The  testi- 
monies of  Mission  converts  and  Christian  Endeavorers  mingled  constituted  a 
service  which  for  strength  and  effectiveness  is  rarely  ever  exceeded.  Each 
service  was  larger  in  attendance  than  the  preceding,  the  large  auditorium 
being  filled.  The  Gospel  wagons  were  used  each  evening,  their  services  cul- 
minating in  the  service  at  Market  Space  at  six  o'clock,  Sunday  p.  m.,  where  an 
immense  throng,  estimated  at  three  thousand,  listened  attentively,  and  joined  in 
a  most  thrilling  Gospel  service.  The  enthusiasm  broke  all  bounds  and  mani- 
fested itself  at  every  turn  of  the  service."  The  superintendent  at  the  new  post- 
office  says,  "  The  meetings  held  here  by  the  Christian  Endeavorers  were  very 
satisfactory.     I  have  only  words  of  commendation  respecting  them." 


THE  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

One  of  the  most  practically  helpful  parts  of  the  crowded  Convention  pro- 
gramme was  the  series  of  Bible  studies  conducted  by  President  G.  S.  Burroughs, 
D.D.,  of  Crawfordsville,  Ind.  The  large  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  was  crowded  daily,  before  the  morning  sessions.  Note-books  were  to 
be  seen  everywhere,  and  were  liberally  used  to  supplement  the  excellent  syllabi 
printed  in  the  programme. 

President  Burroughs  is  a  clear,  dignified,  attractive  speaker,  and  held  close 
attention  from  beginning  to  end.  Each  day  a  single  book  of  the  Bible  was 
studied, —  "Amos,  the  Prophet  of  Righteousness,"  "Hosea,  the  Prophet  of 
Love,"  "Galatians,  Glad  News  of  Freedom,"  "First  Corinthians,  Practical 
Christianity."  These  were  chosen  as  illustrations  of  the  method  of  Bible-study 
the  leader  advocated, — the  study  of  whole  books  at  a  time,  especially  of  the 
key  books  ;  and  all  the  hundreds  of  Endeavorers  that  took  this  valuable  course 
will  be  far  better  Bible  students  hereafter. 


SEEKING  GOD  EARLY. 

In  a  Convention  where  the  deepening  of  the  spiritual  life  was  made  the 
prominent  topic,  the  early  morning  prayer  meetings,  three  in  number  daily, 
naturally  held  a  most  important  place.  Unity  of  purpose  was  given  by  assign- 
ing on  the  programme  a  special  topic  for  each  morning.  These  topics  were 
drawn  from  different  clauses  of  the  pledge,  after  the  first  day,  when  the  subject 
was  "  Prayer  for  the  Convention."  As  at  Boston,  much  inspiration  was  gained, 
and  the  thought  of  the  hour  was  made  more  definite  and  practical  by  reports 
from  those  that  had  been  engaged  in  evangelistic  work  on  the  day  before.  A 
good  variety  was  to  be  noted  in  the  ways  in  which  the  different  meetings  were 
conducted.  One  would  be  made  by  the  leader  largely  a  Bible-reading,  the  pas- 
sages having  been  assigned  to  different  ones  before  the  opening  of  the  meeting. 
Thus  these  gatherings  were  helpful  both  because  of  their  spiritual  uplift  and 
because  of  their  suggestions  of  new  methods. 

On  Friday  there  was  an  innovation  that  proved  to  be  well  worth  repeating. 
It  was  but  one  of  the  signs  of  the  growing  interest  in  Junior  work,  and  was  an 


Fifteenth  Internatioial  Convejition.  335 

early  morning  meeting  for  Juniors.  Led  by  two  Juniors  and  attended  by 
others,  it  attracted  a  large  number  of  those  engaged  in  Junior  work.  An  excel- 
lent chalk-talk  and  one  or  two  short  addresses  were  given,  and  many  took  part 
in  the  prayers  and  testimonies. 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  AND  OFFICERS 
OF  THE  UNITED  SOCIETY  OF  CHRISTIAN  ENDEAVOR. 

Resolved.  That  the  heartiest  thanks  of  the  Trustees  of  the  United  Society 
of  Christian  Endeavor  and  of  the  entire  Convention  are  most  certainly  due  and 
are  hereby  most  gladly  expressed  : 

First.  To  the  Capital  City  of  Washington,  for  its  welcome,  metropolitan 
and  national  in  every  way. 

Second.  To  the  painstaking,  persistent,  to  the  least  and  last  thing,  attentive, 
and  splendid  Committee  of  '96. 

Third.  To  the  enthusiastic  and  admirable  preparation  and  service  of  Colonel 
Bright,  Sergeant-at-Arms,  United  States  Senate,  and  to  the  Capitol  police. 

Fourth.  To  the  United  States  Marine  Band,  for  its  surpassing  music,  both 
on  the  stand  and  in  the  parade. 

Fifth.  To  the  police  of  the  city  of  Washington,  for  their  constant  courtesy, 
care,  and  unrelaxing  attention. 

Sixth.  To  the  great  and  wonderful  Washington  Christian  Endeavor  choir 
— never  was  there  a  choir  so  large,  better  trained,  readier  in  various  service. 
The  harmonious  songs  on  the  Capitol  steps,  like  the  sound  of  many  waters  — 
who  that  heard  can  ever  forget  that  wonderful  sound  and  scene  ? 

Seventh.  To  the  press,  for  every  possible  attention  and  for  such  full  and 
accurate  reports. 

Eighth.  To  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  for  its  use  of  the  White 
Lot,  and  for  the  liberty  of  gathering  at  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol. 

Ninth.  To  Col.  John  M.  Wilson,  Superintendent  of  Public  Buildings  and 
Grounds,  for  his  invaluable  aid  in  the  arrangement  for  the  places  of  meeting. 

Tenth.  Nor  in  any  wise  should  most  grateful  thanks  be  omitted  to  the 
beautiful  and  thoughtful  attention  and  service  of  tliose  on  whom  the  conve- 
nience of  the  members  of  the  Convention  was  most  dependent,  the  motor-men, 
drivers,  and  conductors  of  the  street  railroads  of  Washington. 


336 


Official  Report  of  the 


NUMBER  OF  SOCIETIES,  JULY,  1896. 


UNITED  STATES. 


Alabama 

Alaska  Territory  .  .  . 
Arizona  Territory     .    . 

Arkansas     

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia  . 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho   

Illinois 

Indiana    

Indian  Territory  .    .    . 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts  .    .    .    . 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri      

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire  .    .    . 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico  Territory 

New  York 

North  Carolina  .  .  . 
North  Dakota  .... 

Ohio 

Oklahoma  Territory    . 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania  .  .  .  . 
Rhode  Island  .  .  .  . 
Soutli  Carolina  .  .  . 
South  Dakota   .... 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont      

Virginia  

Washington 

West  Virginia   .... 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


Young 

Interme- 

Peoples. 

Junior. 

diate. 

107 

22 

4 

17 

3 

122 

29 

779 

442 

II 

220 

ICO 

528 

192 

5 

70 

30 

77 

56 

166 

44 

144 

20 

37 

14 

1,802 

836 

17 

i>352 

498 

II 

38 

8 

1,302 

468 

I 

982 

349 

2 

337 

82 

2 

62 

13 

610 

170 

4 

365 

107 

917 

461 

9 

914 

318 

3 

589 

314 

5 

42 

6 

846 

379 

2 

47 

22 

54' 

214 

2 

9 

6 

302 

103 

778 

390 

28 

7 

2,971 

1,104 

5 

222 

45 

"3 

23 

2,311 

716 

II 

137 

26 

I 

304 

134 

I 

3-273 

1,224 

8 

145 

65 

64 

10 

I 

209 

65 

349 

121 

I 

408 

174 

3 

45 

26 

327 

124 

I 

178 

22 

232 

94 

4 

225 

50 

539 

237 

4 

19 

6 

26,203 

9969 

114 

Mothers' . 


Senior. 


Al 


Fifteenth  International  Convention. 


337 


CANADA. 


Alberta 

Assiniboia 

British  Columbia    .    . 

Manitoba 

New  Brunswick  .  .  . 
Newfoundland  .  .  . 
Nova  Scotia  .... 

Ontario 

Prince  Edward  Island 

Quebec 

Saskatchewan  .... 


Total, 

FOREIGN 


Young 
People's. 

Junior. 

Parents' . 

Mothers' . 

12 

2 

47 
38 

7 

5 

"7 

21 

152 

12 

5 

394 
1,817 

42 
261 

I 

63 

2 

224 

58 

2 

5 

2,879 

410 

2 

I 

Total. 

14 

54 

43 

138 

164 

5 

436 

2,079 

65 


3>292 


Africa 

Asiatic  Turkey    .   . 

Australia 

Austria 

Belgium 

Bermuda 

Brazil 

Burmah      

Chili 

Colombia 

China 

Egypt 

England  and  Wales 

France    

Germany 

Guatemala     .... 
Hawaiian  Islands    . 

Holland     

India 

Ireland 

Italy 

Japan  

Labrador   

Laos 

Madagascar  .... 

Mexico 

Norway 

Persia 

Samoa 

Scotland     ..... 
South  Sea  Islands  . 

Spain 

Siam 

Switzerland  .... 

Syria 

Sweden 

Turkey 

Upper  Hebrides  .    . 
West  Indies  .... 


Total, 


Young 
People's. 

Junior 

Interme- 
diate. 

Senior. 

33 

5 

I 

I 

1,850 

150 

4 

2 

I 

6 

2 

I 

14 
6 

I 

36 
I 

4 

I 

3,062 
66 

245 

I 

18 

I 

6 

3 

117 

II 

52 

6 

2 

63 

3 

I 

10 

93 

55 

7 

4 

3 

I 

10 

300 

15 

2 

4 

I 

I 

7 

3 

I 

7,1 

8 

I 

60 

3 

S.929 

465 

I 

4 

Total. 


38 

2 

2,004 

2 

I 

6 
3 

14 
6 
I 

40 

2 

3>3o8 

66 


9 
I 

128 

58 
2 

66 
I 

10 

93 
62 

4 

4 

10 

315 


7 
3 
I 

41 
I 

63 
6,399 


338 


Official  Report  of  the 

RECAPITULATION. 


United  States     .    . 

Canada     

Foreign 

Floating  Societies 


Young 
Peoples. 

Junior. 

Interme- 
diate. 

Mothers'. 

Senior. 

Parents'. 

26,203 

9^969 

114 

47 

21 

2,879 

410 

I 

2 

5.929 

465 

I 

4 

Total. 

36,354 
3,292 

6,399 
80 

46,125 


Fifteenth  International  Convention. 


339 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Addresses  of  Welcome 77i  9o 

Atkinson,  Mr.  C.J 189 

Ainslie,  Rev.  Peter 191 

Alison,  Rev.  Alexander 132,303 

Amerman,  Mr.  W.  L 178 

Anderson.  Rev.  Asher 240 

Andrews,  Prof.  VV.  W 94 

Armenian  Meeting 310 

Arnett,  Bishop  B.  W 252 

Associate  Members 213-216 

Baer,  John  Willis  ^Annual  Report^   ....  85 

Baer,  Mrs.  John  Willis 280 

Baker,  Mrs.  Ruth  B loi 

Baker,  Rev.  Smith 47 

Baldwin,  Rt.  Rev.  M.  S 70,  162,  325 

Banks,  Rev.  L.  A 16 

Baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost 183 

Barbour,  Rev.  C.  A 61 

Barrett,  Mrs.  Kate  Waller 281 

Bible  Studies  (Burroughs)     334 

Broad,  Mr.  W.  L 137 

Booth-Tucker,  Commander  F.  DeL.    .   .   .  273 

Bomberger,  Rev.  J.  H 237 

Brotherhood  Committee 201 

Brown,  Rev.  Arthur  J 253 

Burroughs,  President  G.  S 334 

"  California, '97" 143,152 

Calvary  Baptist  Church  (Wednesday  night)  46 
"  "  "       (Thursday night)  .  108 

"  "  "      (Friday  night)    .   .  212 

Campbell,  Mr.  Guy  W 195 

Campbell,  Rev.  J.  L 50,  213 

Carroll,  Rev.  H.  K 115 

Castle,  Hon.  H.  L 129 

Central  Hall  (Thursday  night) 129 

"         "      (Friday  morning) 163 

"         "      (Friday  night) 244 

"         "      (Sunday  afternoon) 295 

"         "      (Monday  night) 315 

Central  Presbyterian  Church  (Wednesday 

night)      52 

Chapman,  Rev.  J.  Wilbur    .   .  183,  211,  276,  315 

Christian  Citizenship 99-i53i  224,  289 

Church  of  the  Covenant  (Wednesday  night)  60 
Church  Services  (Sunday  morning)  .  .  .  .293 
Citizens' Meetings  (Saturday  evening)     .   .290 

Clark,  Mrs.  Francis  E 153 

Clark,  President  Francis  E.  (Annual  Ad- 
dress)     80,  268,  328 

Closing  Consecration  Meetings  (Monday 
evening) 314 


PAGE 

Coleman,  Mr.  Geo.  W 189 

Committee  Conferences 192-206 

Congress  St.  Methodist  Protestant  Church 

(Wednesday  night) 65 

Consecration 168,  309,  315,  328 

Capitol  Hill 288 

Corresponding  Secretaries 192 

Crafts,  Rev.  Wilbur  F 305 

Dangers  To  Be  Encountered 223 

Davison,  Rev.  J.  B 300 

Denominational  Missionary  Meetings.  .   .294 

Denominational  Rallies 96-99 

Derrick,  Rev.  W.  B 40,117 

Dickinson,  Rev.  Chas.  A 163 

District  Secretaries 194 

Dixon,  Mr.  J.  L 198 

Dobbins,  Rev.  Frank  S 72 

Dow,  Hon.  Neal 99 

Dyott,  Rev.  L.  R 56 

Early  Morning  Prayer-meetings 334 

Eastern  Church  (Wednesday  night)  ....  19 

Ellis,  Mr.  W.  T 197 

Encouragements  To  Be  Given 225 

Epiphany  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 

(Wednesday  night) 6g 

Evangelistic  Force,  Christian  Endeavor  as 

an 252 

Evangelistic  Meetings 333 

Faville,  Rev.  Henry 229 

Faville,  Rev.  John 232 

Fellowship 224 

Fennell,  Rev.  W.  G 68 

Fifield,  Rev.  J.  W 25,  106 

First  Baptist  Church  (Wednesday  night)  .  48 
First  Cong'l  Church  (Wednesday  night)  .  .  73 
"        "  "         (Thursday  night)   .   .  100 

"        "  "  (Friday  night)  ....  228 

First  Presbyte'n  Church  (Wednesday  night)    72 
"  "  "      (Thursday  night)     120 

"  "  "      (Friday  night)    .  .  220 

Floating  Societies 203 

Foreign  Missions 249 

Foster,  Mrs.  J.  Ellen 123 

Foundry  M.  E.  Church  (Thursday  night)  .  114 
"  "  "        (Friday  night)     .  .  230 

Frazier,  Mr.  Raymond  R 197 

French,  Rev.  J.  Clement 52 

Friday  Afternoon  (Committee  Conferences)  192 

George,  Rev.  A.  E 69 

Gillam,  Rev.  Ralph 205 


340 


Official  Report  of  the 


God's  Plan 179 

Good-Literature  Committee 200 

Graff,  Mr.  Geo.  B 202 

Greene,  Rev.  S.  H 92 

Grotthouse,   Mr.  H.  H ig6 

Gunton  Temple   Memorial  Church  (Wed- 
nesday night)  24 

Gurley  Memorial  Church  (Wednesday  night)56 

Hamilton,  Rev.  Franklin 65,  120 

Hamilton,  Rev.  J.  W 60 

Hamline  M.  E.  Church  (Wednesday  night)  .  34 

Harsha,  Rev.  Wm.  J 37,225 

Haus,  Miss  Kate  H 173 

Hay,  Col.  John 76 

Henson,  Rev.  P.  S 152 

Hershey,  Rev.  Scott  F 242 

Hinman,  Rev.  Willis  S 193 

Hott,  Bishop  J.  W 244 

How  May  the  Pastor  Help  the  Society  ?  .   .  242 
How  May  the  Society  Help  the  Pastor.?  .   .  240 

Hufford,  Rev.  R.  W 20,  217 

Hunt,  Mr.  C.N 271 

Hyde,  Miss  Grace  E 187 

Individual  Responsibility  for  Soul- Winning2i7 
Information  and  Press  Committee  ....  197 
Intermediate    Society   of    Christian    En- 
deavor      163,  202 

Invocation   Hymn 76 

Jamison,  Miss  Cordelia 193 

John  Wesley  African  M.  E.  Zion  Church  .  43 

Jones,  Miss  A.  P 203 

Judgment 276 

Junior    Society   of    Christian    Endeavor 

173-  186, 193 

Junior  Rally 264 

Kearney,  Miss  Belle 283 

Kelly,  Dr.  E.  E 143 

Kendall  Baptist  Church  (Wednesday  night) 30 

Keyser,  Rev.  Leander  S 53 

Kirkpatrick,  Judge  L.  J 195 

Knipp,  Mr.  J.  Edgar 220 

Landers,   Rev.  W.  P 200 

Landrith,   Rev.    Ira 201 

Lane,  Rev.  C.  S 160 

Leitch,  Miss  Margaret  W 249 

Life-Savers 204 

Local  Union  Officers 194 

Lookout  Committee 195 

Lovejoy,  Rev.  G.  E 73 

Lucas,   Mr.  J.  M 192 

MacArthur,  Rev.  R.  S 144 

Mason,  Rev.  C.  S 30 

Mason,  Rev.  J.  E 44 

Masson,  Miss  Jennie  T 188 

McCrory,  Rev.  J.  T 125 

McEwen,  Mrs.  Henry  T 297 

McGill,   Rev.  D.  F 134 


Meetness  for  the  Master's  Use 258 

Memorial  Lutheran  Church  (Wednesday 

night)      20 

Men's  Meeting 270 

Metropolitan  African  M.E.  Church  (Wed- 
nesday night) 39 

Metropolitan    M.  E.   Church    (Thursday 

night)      99 

Metropolitan  Presbyterian  Church  (Wed- 
nesday night) 68 

Miles,   Raymond 265 

Miller,  Rev.  R.  W 201 

Mills,  Rev.  B.  Fay 309,315 

Missionary  Conference 193 

Missionary  Service,  The  Call  to 253 

Missions 201,  207,  294 

Morgan,  Rev.  J.  B 68 

Mothers'  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  153,202 
Mount  Vernon  Place  M.  E.  South  Church 

(Wednesday  night) t  ....  14 

Myers,  Rev.  Cortland 10,168 

Neil,  Rev.  John 165 

New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church 

(Wednesday  night) 10 

New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church 

(Thursday  night) 133 

New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church 

(Friday  night) 240 

Nicholson,  Hon.  S.  E 137 

Nineteenth  Street  Baptist  Church( Wednes- 
day night) 57 

Opening  Sessions  (Wednesday  night)   .   .  8-72 
Opening  Sessions  (Thursday  morning)  .   .      75 

Ottman,  Rev.  Ford  C 247 

Our  Work 220 

Page,  Mr.  Frank  E 201 

Pastor  and  Society 242 

Personal  Work 275 

Pledge.  Private  Devotion 235 

Pledge.  Public  Confession 239 

Pledge.  Support  of  Church  Services  ....  237 

Pounds,  Rev.  J.  E 31,  207 

Prayer 155,221 

Prayer-meeting    Committee 196 

Presentation  of  Banners 83,  88,  95 

President's  Annual  Address 80 

Private    Devotion 235 

Race,   Miss   Martha  E 194 

Rader,   Rev.   Wm 42,  109 

Ramsay,  Rev.  F.  P 27 

Reid,  Rev.   W.  D 15 

Resolutions 335 

Responses  to  Addresses  of  Welcome  .   .  78,  92 

Richardson,  Rev.  A.  F 223 

Robinson,  Rev.  W.  H 11,  214 

RollCall  — Tent  Washington 329 

Roll  of  Honor 160,  171, 178 


Fifteenth  International  Convention. 


341 


Ross,  Hon.  John  Wj 90 

Russell,  Rev.  Howard  H 141 

Sabbath  Observance 295 

Salvation 271 

Saturday  Afternoon  (Capitol  Hill)  ....  288 

Saturday  Evening 290 

Secretary  Baer's  Annual  Report 85 

Senior  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  202,  256 

Service 175 

Service,  Rev.  Robert  J 78 

Shaw,   William   .   .   ■ 296 

Slocum,  President  W.  F 149 

Smith,  Mr.  W.  H.  H 77 

Social  Committee 197 

Social  Purity 281 

Society  and  Pastor 240 

Soul- Winning 15S,  211,  217,  244,  285 

Spiritual  Life 8-72,323,325,328 

Spiritual  ^ower 162,  165 

Stanford,  Rev.  P.  T 58 

Stanley,  Rev.  F.  J 263 

State  and  Provincial  Officers 195 

State   Receptions 292 

Statistical  Report 336 

Stewart,  Rev.  Geo.  B 266 

Streuli,  Rev.  Arnold 2J 

Strong,  Mr.  W.  H 43 

Sunday  Evening  Service,  Our  Duty  to  the,  229 

Sunday-School  Committee 197 

Support  of  Church  Services 237 

Swift,   Major  Susie 285 

Sword  of  the  Spirit 247 

Temperance  ...  99,  100,  loi,  102,  114, 123,  128, 
132,    136,    137,    141,  152,  284 

Temperance  Committee 199 

Tent  Endeavor  (Thursday  morning)  ....  89 

"  "  (Thursday  night) 148 

"  "  (Friday  morning) 153 

"  "  (Friday  night) 249 

"  "  (Saturday  morning)  .  .  .  280 
"  "  (Monday  morning)  ....  312 
"  "  (Monday  night) 324 

Tent  Washington  (Thursday  morning)   .   .  75 


Tent  Washington  (Thursday  night)    .   .   .  139 
"  "  (Friday  morning)  ...  172 

"  "  (Friday  night) 256 

"  "  (Saturday  morning)  .   .  270 

"  "  (Monday  morning)    .  .  310 

"  "  (Monday  night)   ....  325 

Tent  Williston  (Friday  night) 206 

"  "  (Saturday  morning)  .    .   .  264 

"  "  (Monday  morning)  ....  311 

"  "  {Monday  night) 317 

Thursday      Afternoon     (Denominational 

Rallies)     95 

Towers,  Rev.  W.  H 63,  235 

Travellers'  Union 205 

Troxell,  Rev.  M.  F iii 

True  Religion 318 

Tupper,  Rev.  K.  B 228 

Turner,   Mr.  Wm.  L 194 

Vance,  Rev.  James  1 318 

Vermont  Avenue  Christian  Church  (Wed- 
nesday night) 31 

Walters,  Bishop  A 103 

Wanamaker,  Hon.  John 140 

Watson,  Rev.  P.  P 45 

Weddell,  Rev.  J.  W 171 

Wells,  Prof.  Amos  R 256 

Wells,  Rev.  J.  Lester 204 

Wesley  M.  E.  Church  (Friday  morning)  .   .  186 
West  Street  Presbyterian  Church( Wednes- 
day night) 62 

Whitman,  President  B.  L 179 

Wiggins,  Miss  Lottie  E 190 

Williams,   Rev.  Hugh  Spencer 175 

Wilson.Hon.  W.  L 148 

Wilson,  Rev.  W.  F 35,158 

Withrow,  Rev.  J.  L 258 

Women's  Meeting 280 

World's  Union   Meetings 311 

Work,  Rev.  C.L 61,155 

York,  Rev.  W.  H 239 

Young  Men's  Sunday  Evening  Club  .  232,  235 
Young,  Rev.  E.  R 48 


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